Trends in the Incidence of Myocardial Infarction and in Associated Mortality and Morbidity in a Large Employed Population, 1957–1983

Abstract

We analyzed long-term trends in the incidence of a first acute myocardial infarction and in case-fatality rates among employees of the Du Pont Company from 1957 through 1983. A steady decline in Incidence was observed among male employees. The annual age-adjusted rate in the 1957–1959 period was 3.19 per 1000, as compared with 2.29 per 1000 in the 1981 -1983 period — a decline of 28.2 per cent. The rate of decline was higher among salaried (white-collar) employees than among production workers receiving hourly wages. No trend was seen among female employees, but the number of cases may have been too small to detect a decline.