Mortality From Ischemic Heart Disease

Abstract

There has been a large and unequivocal rise in the death rate from ischemic heart disease in middle-aged US white men since the beginning of this century. Uncertainty caused by changing terminology has been minimized by working with the ratio of the male to female death rates. In the age group 45 to 64, the ratio of the male to female death rates from all types of heart disease rose from 1.1 in 1920 to 3.3 in 1968. By 1968 the all-cause male death rate had risen to more than double the female rate (ratio 2:1) compared to only a 10% male excess in 1920.