COMPARISON OF EARLY AND LATE MORTALITY IN MEN AND WOMEN AFTER ISOLATED CORONARY-ARTERY BYPASS GRAFT-SURGERY IN STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN, 1980 TO 1989

Objectives. We sought to analyze early and late mortality after corona ry artery bypass graft surgery (CABG) in relation to gender. Backgroun d. Early mortality after CABG is generally higher in women than in men , hut the causes are controversial. Few studies have investigated long -term mortality after CABG in relation to gender. Methods. In all, 3,3 26 men and 607 women underwent isolated CABG in Stockholm from 1980 to 1989, Mortality for these patients was followed by means of the Natio nal Cause of Death Register, from the time of operation until the end of 1990. Survival was evaluated by life-table methods and by proportio nal hazards regression. Results. Early mortality (within 30 days) was 3% in women and 1.7% in men, corresponding to a relative risk of 1.8 ( 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.0 to 3.0) in women compared with men. W hen age and body surface area were taken into account, the relative ri sk was 1.0 (95% CI 0.5 to 2.0), which was not markedly different but m ultivariate analyses that included hypertension, diabetes mellitus, pr evious myocardial infarction, left ventricular function and number of diseased vessels. Only small gender differences in mortality were obse rved for 5 Sears after the operation among those who survived for 30 d ays. Conclusions. The results suggest that men and women run similar r isks of early and late mortality after CABG when patient characteristi cs are taken into account. (C) 1997 by the American College of Cardiol ogy.