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(Circulation. 2006;113:507-516.)
© 2006 American Heart Association, Inc.

Cardiovascular Disease in Women

Gender Differences in Outcomes After Hospital Discharge From Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting

Veena Guru, MD; Stephen E. Fremes, MD; Peter C. Austin, PhD; Eugene H. Blackstone, MD; Jack V. Tu, MD, PhD

From the Institute For Clinical Evaluative Sciences and Sunnybrook and Women’s College Health Sciences Centre (V.G., S.E.F., P.C.A., J.V.T.), University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada, and Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery (E.H.B.), The Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Cleveland, Ohio.

Correspondence to Veena Guru, Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences, 2075 Bayview Ave, G106 Toronto, Ontario M4N 3M5, Canada. E-mail veena.guru{at}utoronto.ca

Received September 6, 2005; revision received November 9, 2005; accepted December 5, 2005.

Background— There are few comparative data regarding long-term nonfatal outcomes for women versus men after coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG). This study compares gender differences in cardiac events in a population of hospital survivors up to 11 years after isolated CABG surgery in Ontario, Canada.

Methods and Results— A population-based cohort study (n=68 774 patients, 15 043 women) between September 1, 1991, and April 1, 2002, was assembled with linked clinical and administrative databases. Cox modeling and propensity score matching were used to compare death, cardiac readmission (angina, heart failure, myocardial infarction), repeat revascularization (angioplasty or CABG), and stroke readmission between men and women. Women were older (65±17 versus 62±13 years), more likely to present with urgent or emergent status (64% versus 56%), and less likely to receive arterial grafts (70% versus 78%). Women had a higher rate of cardiac readmission in the first year after surgery (hazard ratio [HR] of 1.5, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.36 to 1.56), and this increased risk persisted after 1 year (HR 1.2, 95% CI 1.14 to 1.31). This was primarily due to readmissions for unstable angina (HR 1.3, 95% CI 1.24 to 1.38) and congestive heart failure (HR 1.1, 95% CI 1.06 to 1.21). Propensity-matched women had similar rates of death (HR 0.9, 95% CI 0.83 to 0.98) and repeat revascularization (HR 1.0, 95% CI 0.91 to 1.06).

Conclusions— Women have a more complex clinical preoperative presentation and are more likely to be readmitted with unstable angina and congestive heart failure after CABG but experience survival similar to those seen in men. Gender differences in outcomes may be improved through durable revascularization strategies and close postoperative follow-up care targeted to women.

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