Gender Difference in Long-term Prognosis after Myocardial Infarction : Clinical Characteristics in 1000 Patients

To examine gender differences in the long-term prognosis of patients with myocardial infarction, 1000 patients with myocardial infarction were studied after coronary arteriography. Over a follow-up period of 3.3 +/- 2.0 years, 65 patients died from cardiac causes and 301 experienced cardiac events (death, reinfarction and revascularization). Overall, the 5-year cardiac mortality was 8%: that in females (12.4%) was significantly higher than that in males (6.6%) (p = 0.0073). The overall 5-year cardiac event-rate was 35%, with no significant difference between females and males (41.1% vs 33.3%). Univariate analysis revealed that differences in age (57.8 +/- 9.8 years in males vs 64.8 +/- 8.9 years in females, p < 0.0001), presence of smoking habit, obesity, hypercholesterolemia, hypertension, heart failure, right coronary artery disease, nicorandil administration, hypolipidemic, diuretic and anti-hypertensive treatment, and warfarin administration were present between men and women. The mortality rate in elderly females tended to be higher than that in their male counterparts. Multivariate analysis demonstrated that number of diseased vessels, post-infarction angina and left main trunk disease were significant predictors for cardiac death in both sexes, while gender was not. Therefore, gender did not appear to affect the long-term prognosis after age-adjustment among patients with myocardial infarction in the Western part of Japan.