While both men and women see significant benefits from non-primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), women do appear to have worse health outcomes than men, according to new research published in Circulation: Cardiovascular Interventions.
The study's authors examined data from 6,851 women and 12,016 men who presented for diagnostic catheterization at one of 60 U.S. facilities from August 2006 and March 2011. All patients had non-primary PCI. Sixty-four percent of patients were women, and the median age was 62.4 years old.
The health status of each patient was evaluated at regular intervals using Seattle Angina Questionnaire scores.
Overall, among women, the number of angina-free patients increased from 26.2% at baseline to 71.6% at six weeks and 78.1% at nine months. Among men, the number of angina-free patients increased from 29.8% at baseline to 78.7% at six weeks and 83.0% at nine months.
Also, freedom from angina was 33% less likely to occur at six weeks among women and 32% less likely to occur at nine months.
“To our knowledge, this report of health status in women and men undergoing non-primary PCI is the first in the U.S. population and the largest study of its kind,” wrote lead author Pranoti G. Hiremath, MD, of the School of Medicine at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, and colleagues. “Because health status assessment is importantly influenced by sex and gender, and because gender varies by culture, examination of health status in men and women in the United States before and after PCI provides new information that complements and supplements studies in non-U.S. populations.”
Further investigation is warranted to better understand health status differences between women and men, the group added.
Read the full study here.