Women have worse outcomes during 36 months after ACS

(HealthDay)—In a study published in the Nov. 1 issue of The American Journal of Cardiology, among patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS), women were found to have a higher mortality rate than men during 36 months of follow-up.

Przemyslaw Trzeciak, M.D., Ph.D., from the Medical University of Silesia in Katowice, Poland, and colleagues analyzed 932 patients aged <40 years with ACS from the Silesia region in Poland. Participants were followed for a composite end point of death, ACS recurrence, a need for percutaneous coronary intervention, and coronary artery bypass graft surgery within 12 and 36 months after ACS.

The researchers found that within 12 months after ACS there was no significant difference in mortality (4.8 versus 3.1 percent; P = 0.29) or the composite end point (21.6 versus 16.0 percent; P = 0.14). Within the 36-month follow-up period, women had a higher incidence of the composite end point than men (28.4 versus 20.1 percent; P = 0.04), and there was a trend toward higher mortality (9.2 versus 5.0 percent; P = 0.055). In multivariate analysis, female gender was an independent risk factor for death (hazard ratio, 2.76).

"Women had a higher incidence of the composite end point and showed a tendency toward a higher mortality than the men within the 36-month follow-up period," the authors write.