The study used previously collected data to: 1) examine the trends in mortality rates at Howard University Hospital, based on discharge status, between 1986 - 1992, for selected cardiovascular diseases; 2) compare cardiovascular mortality rate trends between Howard University Hospital and the National Hospital Discharge data; 3) examine cardiovascular co- morbidity experiences using a severity of illness index at Howard University Hospital compared to National data by race/ethnicity, geographic location and hospital bed size; and 4) identify a cohort of cardiovascular patients retrospectively based on repeated discharge data at Howard University Hospital, to analyze survival data.