Trends in coronary artery revascularisation procedures in Western Australia, 1980-2001.

OBJECTIVES To describe trends in the use of coronary artery revascularisation procedures (CARPs) and to determine whether or when CARP rates will stabilise. SETTING State of Western Australia. PATIENTS All patients treated by coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) or percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) between 1980 and 2001. DESIGN Descriptive study. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Age standardised rates of first and total CARPs, CABGs, and PCIs. RESULTS Overall rates for both total and first CARPs among men and women rose steeply from 1980 to 1993, when they abruptly stabilised or actually started to decline. Rates in age groups under 65 years tended to rise earlier in the period and remained relatively flat, while rates for people over the age of 75 years started to rise later and were still increasing at the end of the study. CONCLUSIONS Despite continuing increases in capacity to perform both CABG and PCI in Western Australia and evidence of continuing increases in the use of CARPs in the elderly population, rates appear to have stabilised for the first time since they were introduced.