[Pilot study for the registration of acute myocardial infarction in the Liège area (Belgium)].

Background: In 1998, a permanent registry of myocardial infarction was developed in the Liège area (Belgium) to provide updated, exhaustive and validated data on the morbidity and mortality from cardiovascular causes, to define the patients' profile, to identify myocardial infarction therapeutic strategies and to complete and make comparisons with data collected in other parts of the country through methodologically identical registers.

Methods: All acute coronary events lethal or non lethal among individuals from both genders aged from 25 to 69 years and living in the area were registered according to the methodology developed for the MONICA project (Multinational Monitoring of Trends and Determinants in Cardiovascular Diseases) of WHO. The three main selected data sources were: death certificates, general practitioners and cardiologists, hospitals. The events were categorised according to symptoms, cardiac enzymes, electrocardiogram, history of chronic ischaemic heart disease and necropsy findings.

Results: The coronary-event rates were 283/100,000 in men and 102/100,000 in women. The case fatality rate, 28 days after the onset of the symptoms, was 30.6% for men and 36.2% for women, and 77.5% of deaths occurred in the first 24 hours after the onset of the symptoms.

Conclusion: The development of a myocardial infarction register at a regional level requires the involvement of all health professionals dealing with that pathology. Such register has valuable public health interests, providing exhaustive and validated data on the pathology and its evolution as well as useful information for improving therapeutic strategies and developing adapted preventive measures.