There were four major areas of analysis: 1) gender differences in trends from 1980 to 1991 in total event rates, hospital discharge rates, in-hospital case-fatality and out of hospital deaths for coronary heart disease (CHD) and stroke; 2) gender specific analyses of methodological issues which may affect the interpretation of morbidity and mortality surveillance data; 3) gender differences in the presentation, diagnosis, and treatment of CHD and stroke which may influence morbidity and mortality trends; and 4) gender differences in the association between population trends in risk factors and morbidity and mortality trends.