(Circulation. 1995;91:2876-2881.)
© 1995 American Heart Association, Inc.
Articles |
From the Division of Cardiovascular Diseases and Internal Medicine, Mayo Clinic and Mayo Foundation, Rochester, Minn.
| Abstract |
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Methods and Results A retrospective analysis was performed of 3027 consecutive patients (824 women and 2203 men) who underwent successful angioplasty and who have been followed continuously for a mean of 5.5 years (range, 0.5 to 14 years). Follow-up is 100% complete. Event-free survival was assessed by the Kaplan-Meier method, and clinical end points were also examined by Cox proportional-hazards models to account for important baseline differences when appropriate. There was a trend toward lower survival among women during follow-up, but this was not significant (P=.06). The relative risk of death among women compared with men after adjustment for baseline differences was 0.94 (CI, 0.76 to 1.15; P=NS). No significant sex differences in occurrence of Q-wave myocardial infarction were observed. Women were less likely to remain free of angina after 10 years (34% versus 37%, respectively; P=.008), but after adjustment for baseline differences, this difference was not significant (relative risk of angina, 1.07; CI, 0.95 to 1.21). Women tended to have less coronary artery bypass surgery performed during follow-up (P=.06); adjusting for baseline differences made this difference more significant (relative risk, 0.79; CI, 0.64 to 0.96; P=.02). Among patients who were not treated in the setting of acute infarction, no sex differences in survival and freedom from myocardial infarction were noted.
Conclusions After successful coronary angioplasty, the long-term prognosis for women is excellent and is similar to that observed in men. Risk-adjusted survival did not differ significantly between the sexes, but less frequent use of subsequent surgical revascularization was observed in women.
Key Words: angina angioplasty coronary disease balloon follow-up studies myocardial infarction
| Introduction |
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Data concerning the long-term sex-specific outcome after coronary angioplasty have largely been based on the observations from the two National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute's Percutaneous Transluminal Coronary Angioplasty (NHLBI PTCA) registries.9 16 In the initial registry group, symptomatic improvement was equivalent in men and women after successful coronary angioplasty, but fewer women underwent additional revascularization procedures, and women actually had better long-term survival.9 Follow-up duration in this study was short, but in the second registry study recently reported by Kelsey et al,16 4 years of follow-up data were reported. In contrast to the first study, in the second study symptom relief was less in women but overall mortality was similar for both sexes. One recent study from a tertiary institution reported that survival as well as event-free survival was better in women than in men after coronary angioplasty19 ; however, another recent study showed that the survival of women was lower after angioplasty, although this could be accounted for by their worse baseline characteristics.20
We recently reported a detailed analysis of the immediate outcome of women who underwent coronary angioplasty over a 12-year period.7 The success rate of coronary angioplasty and complication rates in women and men were similar, although the in-hospital mortality of women was 50% higher than in men, primarily as a result of their worse baseline clinical status relative to men. This present study reports the long-term outcome of those patients who had successful angioplasty, with an analysis of sex-specific differences.
| Methods |
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Follow-up
Follow-up of all patients dismissed from the
hospital was
obtained by an experienced data technician by telephone 6 and 12 months
after the initial procedure and continued annually thereafter.
Information regarding vital status, recurrence of angina with
functional class, occurrence of myocardial infarction (Q-wave:
Minnesota Code), and use of coronary artery bypass surgery or repeat
coronary angioplasty was sought. Mayo Clinic records were reviewed for
all patients who were followed at this institution, and verification of
events occurring at other hospitals was obtained from the attending
physicians.
Statistical Analysis
Sex differences in baseline
characteristics of the study
population were tested with Pearson's
2 test for
discrete variables and Student's t test for continuous
variables. Event-free survival, by the Kaplan-Meier method, is reported
for patients who were dismissed from the hospital after a successful
angioplasty procedure. Differences in outcomes between the sexes were
determined by the log-rank statistic. Relative risks of various
follow-up events for sex were determined from Cox proportional-hazards
models. All pretest baseline variables were used as candidate
variables, and sex was added to the final models. Significant
differences between sexes were considered to be present when the
P value was <.05.
| Results |
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Event-Free Survival of Successfully Treated Patients
Follow-up was available through March 1994, with annual follow-up
complete in 100% of patients, providing a mean follow-up duration of
5.5 years (range, 0.5 to 14 years). The Figure
compares
the event-free survival for women and men. Fig 1A
shows that
although
women had slightly lower survival than men, the difference was not
significant: The probability of survival at 10 years was 73% in women
versus 78% in men (P=.06). However, women were less likely
to be free of angina after 10 years compared with men (34% versus
37%, respectively; P=.008), a trend apparent after 12
months and maintained during follow-up (Fig 1B
). Only 56
nonfatal
Q-wave myocardial infarctions were documented during follow-up, with no
significant difference between women and men (Fig 1C
). There
was no
significant difference in the use of further angioplasty procedures
between women and men during follow-up (Fig 1D
). However, there
was a
trend against the use of subsequent surgical revascularization in women
compared with men (29% versus 33% at 12 years, respectively;
P=.06) (Fig 1E
). Among the 3027 successfully
treated
patients, angina was the primary indication for angioplasty in 1982
patients; none of these patients had been treated within 7 days of an
acute myocardial infarction. Long-term survival or freedom from
nonfatal Q-wave infarction was similar for women and men regardless of
severity of angina at baseline. At 10 years, the probability of
remaining free of death or nonfatal infarction was 91% for women and
83% for men (P=NS) who had mild angina at baseline, whereas
among those with severe angina, 69% of women and 75% of men
(P=NS) were likely to be free of these events.
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After
adjustment for important baseline variables, there was no
significant survival difference between women and men (relative
mortality risk, 0.94; CI, 0.76 to 1.15) (Table 2
).
Similarly, adjusted risks for repeat angioplasty and the occurrence of
angina were not significantly different from those in men (Table
3
). The observed trend toward less frequent use of
bypass surgery in women became more significant after adjustment for
baseline differences (relative risk, 0.79; CI, 0.64 to 0.96;
P=.02).
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| Discussion |
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The present study extends our observations of the in-hospital
outcome of women and men to the long-term outcome of these patients.
Although a trend toward higher mortality among women was observed after
successful angioplasty (Fig 1A
), after adjustment for baseline
differences, the long-term mortality risk for women compared with men
was similar (relative risk, 0.94; CI, 0.76 to 1.15; P=NS).
Women were more likely to have recurrent angina than men, but this was
not significant after adjustment for baseline differences (relative
risk, 1.07; CI, 0.95 to 1.21; P=NS). Women were
significantly less likely to have surgical revascularization than men
(adjusted relative risk, 0.79; CI, 0.64 to 0.96; P=.02),
although there was no significant sex difference in the use of repeat
angioplasty.
Approximately 28% of the successfully treated hospital survivors had their original procedure performed within 7 days of an acute myocardial infarction. The long-term prognosis of such patients may differ from those patients who present with angina pectoris without acute infarction. Analysis performed for patients treated for angina showed that survival and freedom from nonfatal infarction were similar among women and men.
In the first NHLBI PTCA registry cohort (1977-1981), success rates were significantly lower than those currently achieved and were lower in women than in men.9 There were also more fatal and nonfatal complications among women. The long-term outcome was quite different between women and men, with better survival and less use of repeat angioplasty or surgical revascularization among women. Symptomatic relief was excellent, with no observed sex difference. However, the follow-up duration of 18 months (mean) was relatively short, and since patient selection criteria have changed dramatically since 1981 along with improved success rates, the relevance of these observations to the present time is uncertain. The observations from the second NHLBI PTCA registry cohort (1985-1986) support this contention.16 22 23 Success rates were approximately 30% higher than in the initial registry cohort and were similar in women and men, although women had a higher in-hospital mortality than men. After 4 years of follow-up of the entire cohort, whether or not coronary angioplasty had been successful, women appeared to have fared worse than men with respect to survival and angina status.16 However, unlike the in-hospital experience, female sex was not independently predictive of long-term mortality once adjustment for baseline differences had been made, although these differences could not account for the higher frequency of angina recurrence.
The observations from the second NHLBI PTCA Registry cohort are generally consistent with those from the present study. After successful coronary angioplasty, women have a higher mortality than men, although the adjusted risk is similar, and are more likely to experience a recurrence of angina and less likely to have coronary artery bypass surgery. Additional nonregistry follow-up data concerning the long-term outcome of women compared with men after coronary angioplasty were published recently. One of those studies found that women had better event-free survival than men19 ; however, the follow-up results from Emory University are consistent with our findings of higher mortality among women (although not significantly different after adjustment for baseline differences) and higher rates of angina and lower use of coronary artery bypass surgery in women.20
The lower frequency of surgery in women remains unexplained but has been observed in other similar studies.19 20 This difference was still significant after adjustment for age, diabetes, and other comorbid diseases. Although it has been suggested that women with coronary artery disease are less likely to be referred for revascularization procedures,1 2 we and others have shown that once angiography has been performed24 or an acute myocardial infarction occurs,25 revascularization is performed equally in women and men when adjusted for age. While questions of sex bias might be raised, it is important to also consider the alternative interpretation that revascularization may have been overused in men or that symptom status (a subjective observation) is a weak end point and that more meaningful data, such as exercise capacity and extent of exercise-induced ischemia, may be more reliable indicators of response to therapy. Whether bypass surgery is performed or not depends on many other factors and reflects the decisions of the cardiologist, surgeon, patient, and family as well as the social circumstances of the patient, none of which can be adequately analyzed by a retrospective statistical approach. Nevertheless, survival outcome was similar for women and men, suggesting that the observed difference in the use of subsequent surgery probably reflects appropriate patient management.
A large proportion of the procedures in the present study were performed within 7 days of an acute myocardial infarction, and although some of these were performed as direct angioplasty, these were not analyzed separately for this study. Vacek et al26 recently reported intermediate-term follow-up outcomes of 670 patients (31% women) who underwent direct angioplasty for acute infarction. Similar success rates (95% in women and 91% in men) were reported, with no significant differences during follow-up in survival, repeat procedures, or use of coronary artery bypass surgery.
In conclusion, this study demonstrates that after successful coronary angioplasty, the long-term outcome of women is similar to that of men with respect to survival and incidence of myocardial infarction. Although women tend to experience more recurrent angina than men, this difference becomes insignificant once baseline status is adjusted for. The only major difference in long-term outcome between women and men appears to be the greater use of subsequent coronary artery bypass surgery in men compared with women, for reasons that remain unclear.
| Acknowledgments |
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| Footnotes |
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Received August 31, 1994; revision received December 8, 1994; accepted December 27, 1994.
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