Table 1

Descriptive characteristics of residents of Rome (aged 35–84 years) who had a first coronary event during the period 1998–2000

	Total incidence		Out of hospital deaths		Hospitalised cases
	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%
Total incidence includes out of hospital deaths and hospitalised cases.
Gender:
Men	8367	68.5	2381	63.7	5986	70.7
Women	3840	31.5	1359	36.3	2481	29.3
Age (years):
35–44	397	3.3	48	1.3	349	4.1
45–54	1391	11.4	227	6.1	1164	13.7
55–64	2713	22.2	554	14.8	2159	25.5
65–74	3767	30.9	1145	30.6	2622	31.0
75–84	3939	32.3	1766	47.2	2173	25.7
Area based deprivation status:
1 (privileged)	1928	15.8	686	18.3	1242	14.7
2	3617	29.6	1169	31.3	2448	28.9
3	3560	29.2	1075	28.7	2485	29.3
4 (deprived)	2579	21.1	754	20.2	1825	21.6
Missing	523	4.3	56	1.5	467	5.5
Educational attainment:
13+ years (high school diploma)					1793	21.2
8–12 years					2577	30.4
<8 years					2864	33.8
Missing					1233	14.6
Comorbidities (diagnoses in the three years before the event):
Diabetes	863	7.1	268	7.2	595	7.0
Hypertension	1403	11.5	502	13.4	901	10.6
COPD	562	4.6	260	7.0	302	3.6
Peripheral vascular disease	189	1.5	63	1.7	126	1.5
Angina	226	1.9	73	2.0	153	1.8
Other ischaemic heart disease	839	6.9	393	10.5	446	5.3
Conduction disorders	171	1.4	101	2.7	70	0.8
Arrhythmia	479	3.9	246	6.6	233	2.8
Heart failure	406	3.3	236	6.3	170	2.0