Incidence and presentation of myocardial infarction in an English community.

Abstract

An attempt was made to determine the incidence and presentation of myocardial infarction in a community of 375,ooo in the Oxford area. Through local general practitioners and hospital records supplemented by the Oxford Record Linkage Study and certificates of sickness incapacity, 357 patients aged under 70 were found and divided into four categories according to the extent and type of diagnostic support. All patients or, if dead, their relatives were interviewed soon after the attack.