The objective of this proposal is to extend the investigations previously conducted of the natural history of coronary heart disease using placebo- group data collected on acute post-myocardial infarction patients in the Beta-Blocker Heart Attack Trial (BHAT). The analyses proposed here were originally by the BHAT Investigators as important, but time limitations and the termination of active funding prevented the work from being completed. Over a two year period, 3,837 myocardial infarction patients were recruited into the BHAT five to twenty-one days after the onset of their acute symptoms. The patients were followed for 12 to 40 months (with a mean of 25 months). Men and women, 30 to 69 years of age, were eligible for entry into the trial. The 3,837 patients were randomized into two groups: propranolol (n=1,916) or placebo (n+1,921). Using rate estimation, lifetable methods, and logistic and Cox regression models, the analyses in this proposal will further examine the relationships between specified baseline characteristics and subsequent events occurring in the BHAT placebo group over the 40 month follow-up period. The primary dependent variables of interest include all cause mortality, cause-specific mortality (including sudden death), recurrent nonfatal myocardial infarction, and incident congestive heart failure. Other dependent variables to be examined include the less severe morbid complaints of the post-infarction patient, including depression, fatigue, nightmares, reduced sexual activity, etc. The independent variables to be studied described the sociodemographic characteristics, medical history, medication use, physical examination findings, and electrocardiographic characteristics of the patients (both 12-lead resting and 24-hour ambulatory).
