Table 1 Characteristics of patients with a first hospitalization in the Netherlands for acute myocardial infarction (AMI), peripheral arterial disease of the lower extremities (PAD) and ischemic stroke
|  | AMI# | PAD†| Ischemic stroke‡ | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Â | Men | Women | Men | Women | Men | Women |
Number of patients | 14,463 | 7,102 | 2,539 | 1,619 | 11.381 | 12.150 |
Age at admission (years) | Â | Â | Â | Â | Â | Â |
   Mean | 64.3 | 71.9 | 66.1 | 66.9 | 70.2 | 74.7 |
   Standard deviation | 12.3 | 11.8 | 11.6 | 13.9 | 12.3 | 13.1 |
Previous hospitalization for: cardiovascular disease | 17.8 | 18.5 | 28.9 | 25.0 | 21.4 | 20.0 |
   - ischemic heart disease | 8.1 | 7.3 | 13.6 | 8.6 | 8.0 | 5.1 |
   - acute myocardial infarction | 0.0 | 0.0 | 3.7 | 3.2 | 3.2 | 1.8 |
   - stroke | 1.5 | 1.4 | 4.6 | 3.3 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
   - peripheral arterial disease | 3.1 | 2.6 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 4.1 | 2.5 |
   - heart failure | 2.1 | 3.1 | 3.9 | 3.5 | 2.9 | 3.6 |
   - other cardiovascular disease | 6.3 | 7.5 | 14.0 | 15.2 | 11.6 | 13.4 |
diabetes mellitus | 6.7 | 7.2 | 10.8 | 13.3 | 11.1 | 13.7 |
Type of hospital (%) - academic | 6.2 | 5.7 | 11.2 | 7.8 | 11.0 | 9.2 |
Length of stay (days) | 10 | 11 | 4 | 5 | 22 | 27 |
Origin (%) -native Dutch | 89.3 | 90.0 | 91.5 | 89.5 | 89.9 | 88.9 |