[Age at death in the Turkish Adult Risk Factor Study: temporal trend and regional distribution at 56,700 person-years' follow-up].
OBJECTIVE
We analyzed the temporal trend and regional distribution of age at all-cause death and the sex-specific and age-bracket defined coronary mortality in the 18-year follow-up of the Turkish Adult Risk Factor Study.


METHODS
The participants of the Turkish Adult Risk Factor Study who have been examined in even years were last surveyed in August 2008. A total of 1,582 individuals were surveyed, which constituted half of the alive participants of the overall cohort. Information on death was obtained from first-degree relatives and/or health personnel of local heath offices. Survivors were evaluated by history, physical examination, and 12-lead electrocardiography. The cumulative follow-up was 56,700 person-years.


RESULTS
Of 1,582 participants, 868 (431 men, 437 women) were examined, in 604 subjects information was gathered, and 47 participants (26 men, 21 women) were ascertained to have died. Twenty-two deaths were classified as of coronary origin. Cumulative assessment of the entire cohort in the age bracket of 45-74 years disclosed coronary mortality to be 7.64 per 1000 person-years in men and 3.84 in women and persisted to be the highest among 30 European countries, whereas overall mortality declined at a greater proportion. Overall mean ages at death were deferred within a 12-year period by 7.4 years in men and 6 years in women, to 71.9 and 74.8 years, respectively. The extension of this mean survival was similar among urban-rural areas and geographic regions.


CONCLUSIONS
Coronary mortality declined modestly, but life expectancy of Turkish adults rose by a mean of nearly seven years in the 12 years to 2003-08, without showing major differences in sex, urban-rural dwelling, or geographic regions.
Onat
Altan
A
Turkish Society of Cardiology; Department of Cardiology, Cerrahpaşa Medical Faculty, Istanbul University, Istanbul, Turkey. alt_onat@yahoo.com.tr
Uğur
Murat
M
Tuncer
Mustafa
M
Ayhan
Erkan
E
Kaya
Zekeriya
Z
Küçükdurmaz
Zekeriya
Z
Bulur
Serkan
S
Kaya
Hasan
H
D000368:Aged; D002423:Cause of Death; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D005843:Geography; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012307:Risk Factors; D017741:Survivors; D014421:Turkey