Women do have an improved long-term outcome after non–ST-elevation acute coronary syndromes treated very early and predominantly with percutaneous coronary intervention

OBJECTIVES: This study sought to assess gender-based differences in long-term outcome after very early aggressive revascularization for non-ST-elevation acute coronary syndromes (NSTACS). BACKGROUND: The Fragmin and fast Revascularization during InStability in Coronary artery disease (FRISC) II study suggested that women have less to gain from an early invasive strategy. METHODS: We conducted a prospective cohort study in 1,450 consecutive patients with NSTACS undergoing coronary angiography and subsequent coronary stenting of the culprit lesion as the primary revascularization strategy within 24 h of admission. The combined primary end point was defined as death or nonfatal myocardial infarction (MI) and recorded for a mean of 20 months. RESULTS: Percutaneous coronary intervention was performed in more than 50% of patients in women and men and accompanied with stenting in 80%. The percutaneous coronary intervention:coronary artery bypass grafting ratio was 4:1 in men and 5:1 in women. The primary end point occurred in 29 (7.0%) women as compared with 108 (10.5%) men (hazard ratio for women, 0.65; 95% confidence interval CI 0.42 to 0.99; p = 0.045). Backward-stepwise multivariate Cox regression analysis identified female gender as an independent predictor of death or MI (hazard ratio for female gender, 0.51; 95% CI, 0.28 to 0.92; p = 0.024). Kaplan-Meier analysis showed that women had consistently lower event rates during the entire follow-up period (p = 0.037 by log-rank for death or MI). CONCLUSIONS: Women treated with very early aggressive revascularization with coronary stenting of the culprit lesion as the primary revascularization strategy have a better long-term outcome as compared with men.