Abstract
Although an increase in the number of patients with ischemic heart disease (IHD) is observed in clinical settings in Japan, age-adjusted death rates for IHD show a decline. The trends exhibited for IHD should be carefully analyzed in order to develop health strategies. To validate the diagnosis of IHD on death certificates hospital records for patients with death certificate diagnosis of all types of heart diseases including IHD and heart failure were examined. Acute myocardial infarction according to hospital records represented 21% of the total deaths for heart disease, and this percentage was lower than the percentage for IHD deaths according to death certificate, which was 35% of total deaths for heart disease. The percentage for sudden deaths according to hospital records was 31% of the total deaths for heart disease. Several recent studies have indicated that about one-half of sudden deaths are due to IHD. Based on this observation, if one-half of the number of sudden deaths are added to the number of IHD deaths, the difference between the number of IHD deaths according to hospital records and that of IHD deaths according to death certificate becomes minimal with the former outnumbering the latter by only 4%. It can be concluded that mortality statistics for IHD are valid.
