Table 2.

Characteristics of the two nested case–control populations

	Mortality				Reinfarction
	Cases		Controls		Cases		Controls
	N	%	N	%	N	%	N	%
	841		3329		778		3083
Fatal					387		49.7
Nonfatal					391		50.3
Exposure
No EB therapy	221	26.3	501	15.0	191	24.6	426	13.8
1 EB drug	199	23.7	677	20.3	173	22.2	536	17.4
2 EB drugs	224	26.6	999	30.0	209	26.9	926	30.0
3 EB drugs	176	20.9	968	29.1	176	22.6	951	30.8
Complete EB therapy	21	2.5	184	5.5	29	3.7	245	7.9
Interventions during index admission
PCI	236	28.1	1429	42.9	284	36.5	1482	48.0
Bypass	10	1.2	76	2.3	6	0.8	75	2.4
Comorbidities (index admissions and 9 years before)
Malignant neoplasm	210	25.0	428	12.9	96	12.3	309	10.0
Diabetes	262	31.2	546	16.4	248	31.9	488	15.8
Disorders of lipid metabolism/obesity	85	10.1	377	11.3	141	18.1	362	11.7
Hematologic diseases	171	20.3	327	9.8	113	14.5	265	8.6
Hypertension	445	52.9	1349	40.5	404	51.9	1119	36.3
Conduction disorders	123	14.6	380	11.4	92	11.8	338	11.0
Cardiac dysrhythmias	334	39.7	931	28.0	263	33.8	749	24.3
Heart failure	391	46.5	786	23.6	279	35.9	590	19.1
Other cardiac diseases	257	30.6	663	19.9	199	25.6	501	16.3
Cerebrovascular disease	262	31.2	663	19.9	186	23.9	522	16.9
Diseases of arteries,
Arterioles and capillaries	448	53.3	1083	32.5	389	50.0	830	26.9
Chronic obstructive
Pulmonary disease	176	20.9	463	13.9	146	18.8	334	10.8
Chronic nephropathies	214	25.4	384	11.5	180	23.1	308	10.0
Chronic liver, pancreas,
Digestive diseases	54	6.4	124	3.7	46	5.9	126	4.1
Gastro-oesophageal
haemorrhage	39	4.6	77	2.3	28	3.6	53	1.7
EB drug use 12 months before admission (2+ prescriptions)
Antiplatelet	326	38.8	1048	31.5	269	34.6	802	26.0
Beta blockers	106	12.6	410	12.3	97	12.5	334	10.8
ACE-inhibitors/Sartans	464	55.2	1727	51.9	374	48.1	1412	45.8
Statins	120	14.3	382	11.5	126	16.2	350	11.4

EB, evidence based.