Background: Progress in management of acute myocardial infarction (AMI) might have changed the effect of gender on mortality.
Methods: From May 1981 to November 2002, 1984 consecutive patients with AMI underwent emergency coronary angiography. They were divided into three groups in chronological order: group I (1981-1988, n=564); group II (1989-1995, n=678); and group III (1997-2002, n=742). Multi-variable analysis was performed using Cox's proportional hazard regression, adjusting baseline clinical and angiographical variables.
Results: There were 405 women (20%). Thrombolysis was most frequently performed in group I (50%), balloon angioplasty in group II (71%), and stent in group III (66%), with no difference in the allocation of reperfusion therapy between men and women. Three-year mortality was significantly higher in women than in men in group I (27% vs 18%, p=0.03) and group II (23% vs 15%, p=0.048). In group III, there was no significant difference in 3-year mortality (12% vs 10%, p=0.66) between women and men. Women were associated with higher age, more diabetes, more hypertension, fewer current smokers, and less previous infarction than men. Multi-variable analysis showed that sex was not an independent predictor of 3-year mortality in the three groups.
Conclusions: Women with AMI who were treated mostly with primary intervention using stent in the contemporary era had similar mortality to men.