Myocardial infarction events and cardiovascular risk factor levels in Finnish- and Swedish-speaking populations of Finland

Figures & data

Table I. Numbers of all events, first events, and deaths among the 35–99-year-old Finnish- and Swedish-speaking inhabitants in Turku in 1988–1998.

		Women		Men
	Age	Finnish	Swedish	Finnish	Swedish
Number of events	35–64	328	9	1379	50
	65–74	427	17	788	44
	75–99	1106	74	579	44
	35–99	1861	100	2746	138
First event	35–64	253	9	944	39
	65–74	315	14	465	25
	75–99	698	37	332	25
	35–99	1266	60	1741	89
Deaths (28 days)	35–64	109	4	563	20
	65–74	197	8	419	20
	75–99	736	48	413	34
	35–99	1042	60	1395	74

Table II. The age-standardized incidence of first coronary events, attack rate of all MI events, and 28-day coronary mortality rates per 100,000 inhabitants (95% CI in parentheses) among Finnish- and Swedish-speaking men and women in Turku and the rate ratios for these figures.

	Age	Swedish	Finnish	Rate ratio
Men:
Attack rate	35–64	309 (223–396)	467 (442–492)	0.66 (0.47–0.85)^a
	65–74	1877 (1318–2437)	2318 (2154–2481)	0.81 (0.56–1.06)
	75–99	4380 (3081–5680)	5582 (5117–6064)	0.78 (0.54–1.03)
Incidence of first coronary event	35–64	243 (166–319)	320 (299–340)	0.76 (0.51–1.01)
	65–74	1054 (637–1471)	1390 (1264–1517)	0.76 (0.45–1.07)
	75–99	2500 (1516–3484)	3243 (2887–3598	0.77 (0.46–1.09)
28-Day mortality rate	35–64	121 (68–174)	192 (176–208)	0.63 (0.35–0.91)^a
	65–74	860 (480–1240)	1255 (1134–1375)	0.69 (0.38–1.00)
	75–99	3365 (2229–4501)	4103 (3700–4506)	0.82 (0.53–1.11)
Women:
Attack rate	35–64	49 (17–81)	92 (82–103)	0.53 (0.18–0.89)^a
	65–74	537 (279–796)	756 (683–829)	0.71 (0.36–1.06)
	75–99	3214 (2331–3986)	3724 (3501–3947)	0.86 (0.65–1.08)
Incidence of first coronary event	35–64	49 (17–81)	72 (63–81)	0.68 (0.23–1.13)
	65–74	434 (204–663)	567 (504–630)	0.77 (0.35–1.18)
	75–99	1652 (1088–2216)	2361 (2184–2538)	0.70 (0.46–0.94)^a
28-Day mortality rate	35–64	21 (0–41)	31 (25–37)	0.68 (−0.1–1.37)
	65–74	255 (76–433)	354 (304–403)	0.72 (0.20–1.24)
	75–99	2035 (1428–2643)	2482 (2301–2663)	0.82 (0.57–1.07)

^aIndicates statistically significant difference.

Table III. Age-standardized 28-day case fatality (and 95% CI) of acute coronary events among the Swedish- and Finnish-speaking inhabitants aged 35–99 years in Turku during 1988–1998.

	Age	Swedish	Finnish	Ratio
Men:
First events	35–64	36.3 (22.2–50.4)	39.5 (36.3–42.6)	0.92 (0.56–1.28)
	65–74	32.5 (14.2–50.7)	55.0 (50.5–59.5)	0.59 (0.25–0.93)^a
	75–99	87.3 (76.0–98.5)	71.9 (67.2–76.6)	1.21 (1.03–1.39)
All events	35–64	38.8 (26.1–51.5)	40.5 (38.0–43.1)	0.96 (0.64–1.28)
	65–74	45.1 (30.2–59.9)	53.3 (49.8–56.8)	0.85 (0.56–1.14)
	75–99	79.2 (67.1–91.3)	71.6 (67.9–75.2)	1.11 (0.93–1.29)
Women:
First events	35–64	37.6 (13.3–61.8)	31.0 (25.2–36.8)	1.21 (0.39–2.03)
	65–74	44.5 (16.9–72.1)	42.6 (38.1–49.2)	1.02 (0.37–1.67)
	75–99	72.2 (58.4–86.1)	63.9 (60.2–67.6)	1.13 (0.90–1.36)
All events	35–64	37.6 (13.3–61.8)	31.6 (26.3–36.8)	1.19 (0.40–1.98)
	65–74	47.5 (23.3–71.7)	45.4 (40.5–50.2)	1.05 (0.51–1.59)
	75–99	65.3 (54.5–76.1)	63.9 (61.0–76.1)	1.02 (0.84–1.20)

^aIndicates statistically significant difference.

Table IV. Rate ratios (95% CI) of acute coronary events among the 35–99-year-old Swedish- versus Finnish-speaking inhabitants in Turku during 1988–1998.

	Men		Women
	Attack rate	Mortality rate	Attack rate	Mortality rate
Model A	0.73 (0.62–0.87)^a	0.71 (0.56–0.89)^a	0.81 (0.66–0.99)^a	0.81 (0.63–1.05)
Model B	0.81 (0.68–0.96)^a	0.80 (0.63–1.01)	0.94 (0.77–1.15)	0.98 (0.75–1.27)
Model C	0.80 (0.68–0.96)^a	0.81 (0.64–1.03)	0.84 (0.69–1.03)	0.84 (0.65–1.10)
Model D	0.79 (0.66–0.94)^a	0.79 (0.62–1.00)	0.82 (0.67–1.01)	0.83 (0.64–1.09)

Model A: Adjusted for study year.

Model B: Adjusted for study year and income (lowest income tertile versus highest tertile).

Model C: Adjusted for study year and education (≤ 9 years versus > 12 years of education).

Model D: Adjusted for study year and profession (blue-collar versus white-collar).

^aStatistically significant difference between the language groups.

Table V. Means and proportions of cardiovascular risk factors in the FINRISK studies of years 1987, 1997, and 2002 in Turku/Loimaa and the Helsinki metropolitan area. P values for the differences between the language groups.

Risk factor	Finnish-speaking (n = 9913)	Swedish-speaking (n = 519)	P^a	P^b
Cholesterol (mmol/L)	5.58	5.51	0.26	0.45
HDL (mmol/L)	1.45	1.49	0.01^c	0.02^c
Triglycerides (mmol/L)	1.45	1.33	0.02^c	0.03^c
Systolic BP (mmHg)	135.0	134.5	0.48	0.70
Diastolic BP (mmHg)	81.8	80.2	0.01^c	0.01^c
Alcohol (%)	4.0	3.9	0.80	0.75
Smoking (%)	26.7	21.8	0.19	0.41
BMI (kg/m^2)	26.5	25.7	0.001^c	0.003^c
Diabetes (%)	4.4	4.8	0.34	0.44

^aAdjusted for age and sex.

^bAdjusted for household income and education in addition to age and sex.

^cStatistically significant difference between the language groups.

HDL = high-density lipoprotein cholesterol; BP = blood pressure; BMI = body mass index.