BACKGROUND: Acute Myocardial Infarction (AMI) is the single leading cause of death among non-transmitted chronic diseases in Brazil. The knowledge of mortality trends is necessary for planning prevention strategies. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate trends in mortality from myocardial infarction in the period from 1998 to 2009 in Curitiba (PR), their distribution by gender, age and their impact in reducing the absolute number of deaths from this disease in this period. METHODS: Demographic data were obtained from the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) and death data were obtained from the Mortality Information System of the Ministry of Health, considering gender, age and residence. From the fit of a Poisson regression model we estimated mortality rates and expected number of deaths that were not observed. RESULTS: We found significant downward trend (p < 0.001) in the period. The estimated average reduction in death rate from AMI each year was 3.8% (95% CI: 3.2% - 4.5%). There was no significant difference between genders (p = 0.238), although the evolution of age-specific standard mortality rates differed significantly between the groups (p = 0.018). It is estimated that the annual reduction of 3.8% in the mortality rate has resulted in 2,168 deaths below the number expected given the mortality rate observed in 1998 and projecting that number on the population growth occurred during the study period. CONCLUSION: Although it remains an important cause of death, mortality from AMI decreased significantly during the evaluation period
Myocardial infarction; mortality; epidemiology; mortality; trends; demograhic data
