Gender differences in outcome of conservatively treated patients with asymptomatic high grade carotid stenosis

Gender differences are currently becoming increasingly recognized as an important prognostic factor in patients with atherosclerotic disease. We investigated gender-related differences in vascular outcome and mortality of asymptomatic patients with high-grade internal carotid artery (ICA) stenosis.

We enrolled 525 consecutive patients (325 males with a median age of 72 years and 200 females with a median age of 75 years) from a single center registry who were initially treated conservatively with respect to a neurologically asymptomatic > or =70% ICA stenosis. Patients were followed-up for a median of 38 months (interquartile range, 18 to 65) for major adverse cardiovascular, cerebral, and peripheral vascular events (MACE: combined end point including myocardial infarction, stroke, [partial] limb amputation, and death), vascular mortality, and all-cause mortality.

Cumulative MACE-free survival rates in males and females at 1, 3, and 5 years were 83%, 65%, 48% versus 85%, 73%, and 67% (P=0.004), respectively. Adjusted hazard ratios for MACE, vascular mortality, and all-cause mortality for males were 1.96 (P=0.016), 2.48 (P<0.001), and 1.70 (P=0.007) as compared with females, irrespective of age, vascular risk factors, comorbidities, and the individual risk status estimated by the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) score.

Male patients with high-grade carotid artery stenosis are at a considerably higher risk for poor outcome than their female counterparts. In particular, the risk for fatal vascular events is substantially increased in males.