Abstract

Background— Knowledge of trends in the incidence of and survival after myocardial infarction (MI) in a community setting is important to understanding trends in coronary heart disease (CHD) mortality rates. Methods and Results— We estimated race- and gender-specific trends in the incidence of hospitalized MI, case fatality, and CHD mortality from community-wide surveillance and validation of hospital discharges and of in- and out-of-hospital deaths among 35- to 74-year-old residents of 4 communities in the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) Study. Biomarker adjustment accounted for change from reliance on cardiac enzymes to widespread use of troponin measurements over time. During 1987–2008, a total of 30 985 fatal or nonfatal hospitalized acute MI events occurred. Rates of CHD death among persons without a history of MI fell an average 4.7%/y among men and 4.3%/y among women. Rates of both in- and out-of-hospital CHD death declined significantly throughout the period. Age- and biomarker-adjusted average annual rate of incident MI decreased 4.3% among white men, 3.8% among white women, 3.4% among black women, and 1.5% among black men. Declines in CHD mortality and MI incidence were greater in the second decade (1997–2008). Failure to account for biomarker shift would have masked declines in incidence, particularly among blacks. Age-adjusted 28-day case fatality after hospitalized MI declined 3.5%/y among white men, 3.6%/y among black men, 3.0%/y among white women, and 2.6%/y among black women. Conclusions— Although these findings from 4 communities may not be directly generalizable to blacks and whites in the entire United States, we observed significant declines in MI incidence, primarily as a result of downward trends in rates between 1997 and 2008.