The aim of the present study was to determine and compare the short-term and long-term survival after myocardial infarction (MI) in the Kaunas men and women aged 25-64 during 1983 to 1998, according to ischemic heart disease register data. The source of the data--Kaunas population-based ischemic heart disease register. The diagnosis of MI was based on the criteria defined by the WHO MONICA Project. All myocardial infarction events that occurred among Kaunas population aged 25-64 years during 1983-1998 were recorded. Myocardial infarction survival was evaluated using Kaplan-Meier method and using z test for comparing the survival curves.
Results: The data of 3,613 persons with a first myocardial infarction and 528 with a recurrent myocardial infarction were analyzed. Detected, that among men and women a short-term (28 days) survival probability was significant different. In the men aged 25-64 short-term survival after a first myocardial infarction was better comparing with the women survival (z = 4.63, p = 0.03). The short-term survival among men aged 25-64 with a recurrent myocardial infarction comparing with woman did not differ. The long-term survival probability in patients, who survived the first 28 days, among men and women with a first and recurrent myocardial infarction aged 25-64 was without statistically significant differences.