Long-term outcomes of women with coronary artery disease following complete coronary revascularization

Sex-based influence on clinical outcomes after drug-eluting stent implantation in real-world patients: insight from the FOCUS registry

OBJECTIVES

To investigate the impact of sex on clinical outcomes after drug-eluting stent (DES) implantation in real-world patients.

METHODS AND RESULTS

A total number of 4720 patients (3365 males and 1355 females) undergoing the second-generation cobalt-chromium sirolimus-eluting stent (CoCr-SES) implantation from the FOCUS registry were included in this analysis. The cumulative incidences of major adverse cardiovascular event (MACE) (1.5% vs. 2.4%; p = .03), cardiovascular death (0.5% vs. 1.0%; p = .02) and target vessel revascularization (TVR) (0.3% vs. 0.8%; p = .01) within six months were significantly higher in females and the risks of MACE (adjusted hazard ratio [HR] 0.5 (0.3-0.9); p = .01) and TVR (adjusted HR 0.1(0.0-0.5); p = .001) remained significant in multivariate analysis. Reversely, the cumulative incidences of MACE (5.4% vs. 4.8%; p = .04) and any revascularization (5.1% vs. 3.3%; p = .01) were significantly higher in males beyond six months and the risks of all-cause death (adjusted HR 1.6 (1.1-2.5); p = .03) and cardiovascular death (adjusted HR 1.9 (1.1-3.6); p = .03) turned out to be significant in multivariate analysis. Notes: All cumulative incidences were presented as male vs. female; all HRs were calculated as male relative to female.

CONCLUSIONS

Females were associated with higher risk of early adverse events, while, males were associated with higher risk of late adverse events. Key messages Females undergoing PCI are typically older, have more cardiovascular risk factors, while, males in need of PCI are more frequently associated with complex lesions. The overall three-year cumulative incidences of adverse events are not significantly different between males and females but numerically higher in males. Females are associated with significantly higher risks of MACE and TVR within six months, while, males are associated with significantly higher risk of all-cause mortality and cardiac mortality beyond 6 months.

Head to Head Comparison of Stress Echocardiography with Exercise Electrocardiography for the Detection of Coronary Artery Stenosis in Women

Background

Exercise-stress electrocardiography (ECG) is initially recommended for the diagnosis of coronary artery disease. But its value has been questioned in women because of suboptimal diagnostic accuracy. Stress echocardiography had been reported to have comparable test accuracy in women. But the data comparing the diagnostic accuracy of exercise-stress ECG and stress echocardiography directly are few. The aim of the study was to compare the diagnostic accuracy of exercise-stress ECG and dobutamine stress echocardiography (DSE) in Korean women.

Methods

202 consecutive female patients who presented with chest pain in outpatient clinic, and who underwent treadmill exercise test (TET), DSE and coronary angiography were included for the study. The diagnostic accuracy TET and DSE were calculated by the definition of > 50% or > 75% coronary artery stenosis (CAS).

Results

The sensitivity and specificity were higher with DSE (70.4, 94.6%) than TET (53.7, 73.6%) for detection of > 50% CAS. The higher accuracy of DSE was maintained after exclusion of the patients who could not achieve over 85% age predicted heart rate before ischemia induction. DSE also showed greater diagnostic accuracy than TET by > 75% CAS criteria, and in subsets of patient with intermediate pretest probability.

Conclusion

In the diagnosis of CAS, DSE showed higher accuracy than TET in female patients who presented with chest pain. As well as the test accuracy, adequate stress was more feasible with DSE than TET. These finding suggests DSE may be used as the first-line diagnostic tool in the detection of CAS in women with chest pain.

Disability Pension at the Time of Coronary Revascularisation Is Associated with Higher Five-Year Mortality; A Swedish Nationwide, Register-Based Prospective Cohort Study

Background

Although coronary revascularisation by coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) and percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) are common procedures, little is known regarding disability pension (DP) at the time of coronary revascularisation and its association with mortality. The aim was to investigate the five-year mortality following a first coronary revascularisation among women and men on DP, compared with those not on DP at the time of intervention, accounting for socio-demographic and medical factors.

Material and Methods

A nationwide prospective population-based cohort study was conducted, using national registers including 70,040 patients (80% men), aged 30–64 years, with a first CABG (n = 24,987; 36%) or PCI (n = 45,053; 64%) during 1994–2006 in Sweden, who were alive 30 days after the intervention. The main outcome was all-cause and cause-specific mortality within five years or through 31 December 2006, following CABG and PCI, and the exposure was DP at the time of a first coronary revascularisation. Information on DP, patient characteristics, date and cause of death was obtained from nationwide registers. Hazard ratios (HR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) for the outcome were estimated, using Cox proportional hazard regression analyses. All analyses were stratified by type of intervention and gender.

Findings

Four percent died following coronary revascularisation. Cardiovascular disease was the most common cause of death (54%), followed by neoplasms (25%). Regardless of type of intervention, gender and after multivariable adjustments, patients on DP had a higher HR for five-year mortality compared with those not on DP at time of revascularisation (CABG: women HR 2.14; 95% CI 1.59–2.89, men HR 2.09; 1.84–2.38, PCI: women HR 2.25; 1.78–2.83, men HR 1.95; 1.72–2.21). Young women on DP at the time of PCI had a substantially higher HR (HR 4.10; 95% CI: 2.25–7.48).

Conclusion

Patients on DP at the time of first coronary revascularisation had a higher five-year risk of mortality compared with those not on DP.

Sex differentiation with regard to coronary artery disease

Coronary artery disease was considered a male disease for many years. However, nowadays, coronary artery disease constitutes the leading cause of death in women, although there are a lot of gender-related differences regarding the presentation of acute myocardial infarction, its diagnosis, its treatment, short- and long-term mortality rates, and post-acute myocardial infarction complications. Generally, women have smaller and stiffer hearts and cardiac vessels, suffering a greater extent of atherosclerosis and endothelial and smooth muscle dysfunction. They are usually older than men and they have more comorbidities such as hypertension, renal impairment, and diabetes mellitus. Moreover, female coronary artery disease, the diagnosis of which is more complicated due to more false negative results of some diagnostic methods in women, is more often presented with atypical symptoms and women's symptoms of typical or atypical angina are more severe. Furthermore, women delay significantly more in seeking care and they are more frequently undertreated. Finally, women are associated with generally poorer in-hospital and long-term prognosis having almost two-fold higher early mortality and they are more prone to complications such as bleeding complications, shock, and heart failure, as well as to post-myocardial infarction depression and poorer physical function and mental health. In this review, we discuss these sex-related differences according to current literature.