Hospital mortality in acute coronary syndrome: differences related to gender and use of percutaneous coronary procedures

BACKGROUND: To identify differences among men and women with acute coronary syndrome in terms of in-hospital mortality, and to assess whether these differences are related to the use of percutaneous cardiovascular procedures. METHODS: Observational study based on the Minimum Basic Data Set. This encompassed all episodes of emergency hospital admissions (46,007 cases, including 16,391 women and 29,616 men) with a main diagnosis of either myocardial infarction or unstable angina at 32 hospitals within the Andalusian Public Health System over a four-year period (2000–2003). The relationship between gender and mortality was examined for the population as a whole and for stratified groups depending on the type of procedures used (diagnostic coronary catheterisation and/or percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty). These combinations were then adjusted for age group, main diagnosis and co-morbidityharlson score). RESULTS: During hospitalisation, mortality was 9.6% (4,401 cases out of 46,007), with 11.8% for women and 8.3% for men. There were more deaths among older patients with acute myocardial infarction and greater co-morbidity. Lower mortality was shown in patients undergoing diagnostic catheterisation and/or PTCA. After adjusting for age, diagnosis and co-morbidity, mortality affected women more than men in the overall population (OR 1.14, 95% CI: 1.06–1.22) and in the subgroup of patients where no procedure was performed (OR 1.16, 95% CI: 1.07–1.24). Gender was not an explanatory variable in the subgroups of patients who underwent some kind of procedure. CONCLUSION: Gender has not been associated to in-hospital mortality in patients who undergo some kind of percutaneous cardiovascular procedure. However, in the group of patients without either diagnostic catheterisation or angioplasty, mortality was higher in women than in men.