Women fare no worse than men 10 years after attempted coronary angioplasty

A retrospective review of cardiac events occurring in all patients who underwent attempted coronary angioplasty in the first 5 years of our experience (1980-1985) was undertaken. Follow-up data were obtained from the civil registry, hospital records, patient, family, and referring physician. Patient survival curves were constructed and the outcome of women and men was compared. Eight hundred fifty-six patients, 172 women and 684 men with a mean age of 60.0 and 55.3 years, respectively, underwent attempted coronary angioplasty with an overall procedural success rate of 82%, 77.7% in women and 83.1% in men. Follow-up data were obtained in 837 patients (97.8%) with a mean period of 9.6 years (range 0-13.3 years). The estimated 10 year survival in women was identical to men [79%, 95% confidence interval (CI) 72.6-85.4% vs. 78%, 95% CI 74.6-81.4%] as was the 10 year event-free survival (men 36%, 95% CI 32.0-40.0% vs. women 37%, 95% CI 29.2-44.8%), with a similar proportion of major cardiac events-death, myocardial infarction, coronary artery bypass surgery, and repeat angioplasty. When women were matched to men for age and previous myocardial infarction, factors found to be associated with an adverse outcome, there was no significant difference. Additionally, outcome was compared after patients were matched for maximum nominal balloon size as an estimate of vessel size, with no significant difference between women and men. At follow-up, women complained of significantly more anginal symptoms than men (59.2% vs. 44.0%, P < 0.05) and took significantly more antianginal medication.