A new study available in Catheterization and Cardiovascular Interventions demonstrates that women who undergo percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), or angioplasty, show more co-morbidities and cardiovascular risk factors than men. Risk-adjusted analyses have now revealed that gender is not an independent mortality predictor following PCI in current times.

According to the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, every year over one million Americans undergo PCI to open blocked arteries. Earlier studies showed conflicting evidence when comparing female and male outcomes after PCI, whilst some studies suggested women have poorer outcomes than men, others found little or no difference. The dispute over these contradictions continues, and some experts suggest that improved PCI techniques, pharmacological advances and modification of risk factors may balance adverse outcomes between the genders.

Annapoorna Kini, MD, and his team from the Mount Sinai Hospital in New York wanted to find clarification and investigated PCI outcomes in a racially diverse patient group at a high-volume, tertiary hospital. They collected data, including clinical characteristics, procedural details, laboratory and diagnostic test results from 4,761 female and 8,991 male patients at their institution who underwent PCI between April 2003 and 2009. The data also included 30-day and 1-year follow-up data.

Dr. Kini explains:

“Our findings extend previous research, and definitively show that following PCI, women do not have an inherently greater mortality risk compared to men. However, we did find that prognostic risk factors were significantly more prevalent in women.”

Their study revealed that females were older, and more likely to suffer from hypertension, diabetes, and higher LDL cholesterol levels compared with men.

Kini continued: “While men did have higher rates of some modifiable risk-factors, such as smoking, women certainly had a far greater overall burden of co-morbidities and adverse prognostic factors.” The data showed that a greater number of women also presented with an unstable coronary syndrome.

Key findings of this study showed that at 30 days the unadjusted post-PCI mortality rate was 1.3% higher in women compared with 0.8% in men. At one-year women’s mortality rate was 6.1% compared with 4.8% in men and at the three-year point 10.4% of women showed a higher mortality rate compared with 8.4% in men. However, when researchers adjusted the model that accounted for the gender-imbalance in risk factors, they established that women did not have a higher mortality risk compared with men following PCI in this racially diverse group.

In a concluding statement Dr. Kini said:

“While our study found no risk-adjusted difference in mortality between men and women, both sexes would benefit from attention to modifying factors that reduce the risk of heart disease-eliminating smoking, engaging in physical activity, and eating a healthy diet.”

According to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), heart disease is the leading cause of death among men and women, killing over one in every four Americans.

Written by Petra Rattue