Coronary Heart Disease Mortality in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia in 1989 and 1990

Unfortunately, mortality statistics are not available for Saudi Arabia. In the absence of such data, this paper introduces data collected on the number of deaths from coronary heart disease (CHD), considered as a proportion of the total number of deaths, for patients in six hospitals in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia, for each month of the years 1409H and 1410H of the Hijri lunar calendar. These proportions, the so-called proportionate mortality ratio (PMR), are categorized in terms of gender and age, and in terms of a three-level lifestyle variable; namely, rural, urban, or bedouin. The data were analyzed using logistic regression. As might be expected, female deaths from CHD are a lower proportion of total deaths than are male deaths from CHD. However, an interesting conclusion is that CHD seems to be a less prevalent recorded cause of death among bedouins than among rural or urban Saudis. Some possible reasons are discussed. The proportion of recorded CHD deaths is higher in winter months and generally increases with increasing age (except for the very old). This study suggests some hypotheses about the size of the future CHD incidence in Saudi Arabia; it a) indicates the urgent need for comprehensive data collection and b) suggests the need for an effective health care program.