title: Residual risk of cardiovascular mortality in patients with coronary heart disease: the EUROASPIRE risk categories.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The EUROASPIRE I, II and III surveys revealed high prevalences of modifiable risk factors in the high priority group of coronary patients all over Europe. The potential to further reduce coronary heart disease (CHD) morbidity and mortality rates is still considerable. We report here on the relative risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) death associated with common modifiable risk factor levels based on the mortality follow-up of patients participating in the first two EUROASPIRE surveys. We also present a novel simple risk classification system (ERC) that can be used in the management of patients with existing CHD.
  
  
  METHODS
  The study cohort consisted of a consecutive sample of CHD patients aged ≤ 70 years from 12 European countries. Baseline data gathered in 1995-2000 through standardized methods, were linked to cardiovascular mortality in 5216 patients according to an accelerated failure time model.
  
  
  RESULTS
  During 28,143 person-years of follow-up, 332 patients died from cardiovascular disease denoting a CVD mortality risk of 12.3 per 1000 person-years in men and 10.2 per 1000 person-years in women. In multivariate analysis, fasting glucose, total cholesterol and smoking emerged as the strongest independent modifiable predictors of cardiovascular mortality.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results of the mortality follow-up of the EUROASPIRE I and II CHD patients emphasize the continuing risk from elevated glucose and total cholesterol levels and underline the importance of smoking cessation in secondary prevention. The ERC risk tool that we developed may prove helpful to obtain these goals in the setting of secondary prevention.
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health, Ghent University, Belgium. Electronic address: dirk.debacquer@ugent.be.
authors.forename: Dirk
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: De Bacquer
authors.forename: Jean
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Dallongeville
authors.forename: Kornelia
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kotseva
authors.forename: Marie Therese
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Cooney
authors.forename: Andrzej
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pajak
authors.forename: Jaap W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Deckers
authors.forename: Otto
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Mayer
authors.forename: Diego
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Vanuzzo
authors.forename: Seppo
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lehto
authors.forename: Zlatko
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Fras
authors.forename: Erika
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Östor
authors.forename: Giovanni B
authors.initials: GB
authors.lastname: Ambrosio
authors.forename: Guy
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: De Backer
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Wood
authors.forename: Ulrich
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Keil
authors.forename: Susana
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sans
authors.forename: Ian
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Graham
authors.forename: Kalevi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Pyörälä
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000401:mortality; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003327:Coronary Disease / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000401:mortality*; D005060:Europe / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012307:Risk Factors