Gender and willingness to undergo invasive cardiac procedures

To explore the role of patient preferences in explaining gender differences in the use of invasive cardiac procedures, we surveyed 174 patients presen ting for cardiac stress testing at a university hospital, Controlling for s ociodemographic factors, health status, symptom severity, and history of pr ior procedures, women expressed greater willingness than men to accept a ph ysician's recommendation of cardiac catheterization (odds ratio 7.1; 95% co nfidence interval 1.1, 45.3) and similar willingness to accept a recommenda tion for coronary angioplasty or coronary artery bypass graft surgery. We c onclude that patient preferences are unlikely to explain gender disparities in the use of invasive cardiac procedures.