Gender differences in clinical characteristics, medical management, risk factor control, and long-term outcome of patients with stable coronary artery disease: from the CORONOR registry

BACKGROUND: Conflicting information exists about whether sex differences modulate outcome in patients with coronary artery disease (CAD). Our aim was to analyze baseline characteristics, medical management, risk factor control, and long-term outcome according to gender in patients with stable CAD. METHODS: We analyzed data from the contemporary multicenter CORONOR registry, which included 4184 consecutive outpatients with stable CAD. Follow-up was performed at 5 years with adjudication of clinical events. RESULTS: There were 3252 (77.7%) men and 932 (22.3%) women. Women were older than men, more likely to have hypertension, and less likely to smoke. They had more frequent angina but less frequent multivessel CAD. Evidence-based medications were widely used with only few differences according to gender. Women had a poorer control of cardiovascular risk with higher systolic blood pressure and LDL-cholesterol. The composite endpoint - cardiovascular death, myocardial infarction, or ischemic stroke - occurred in 536 patients. When adjusted for baseline characteristics, five-year outcomes were similar for women and men for the composite endpoint (Hazard ratio 95% confidence interval: 1.03 0.81-1.31, P=0.817). CONCLUSIONS: In contemporary practice, women with stable CAD had a poorer control of cardiovascular risk. However, at 5-year follow-up, cardiovascular outcomes were similar for both genders.