Turkish Adult Risk Factor survey 2014: Overall mortality and coronary disease incidence in Turkey’s geographic regions

OBJECTIVE
This study aimed to examine the overall and coronary mortality in the 2014 Turkish Adult Risk Factor Study survey, and the distribution of cumulative mortality and incident coronary heart disease (CHD) across 7 geographic regions.

METHODS
Information on mode of death was appropriately obtained. Information collected from survivors was based on history, examination of the cardiovascular system and the Minnesota coding of electrocardiograms. Cox regression analyses were performed.

RESULTS
Of the 1.323 participants to be surveyed, 87 were lost to follow-up, 753 examined, and 35 ascertained as deceased. In 448 subjects, verbal information alone was obtained regarding health status. Nineteen deaths were of coronary and cerebrovascular origin. Cumulative 24-year assessment of the entire cohort in the age bracket 45–74 years disclosed high coronary mortality, at 7.3 per 1000 personyears in men and 3.8 in women, and recorded a limited decline of 18% since the year 2000. Age-adjusted Cox regression analysis, comprising 614 deaths and 482 incident CHD over a follow-up of 9.6 years, revealed higher mortality rates in the Mediterranean region and in men in the Black Sea and Marmara regions. The age-adjusted CHD incidence was significantly higher in males of the Mediterranean and females of the Southeast regions. An estimated 400–420.000 incident CHD cases develop currently each year in Turkey.

CONCLUSION
The generally high age-adjusted overall mortality in Turkey displays significant differences across geographic regions. Age-adjusted CHD incidence is not regressing sufficiently, and is especially high among men of the Mediterranean and women of the Southeast regions.