Gender differences in clinical and angiographic outcomes after coronary artery bypass surgery

The impact of gender on outcome after coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) is controversial. The aim of this study was to compare the differences of clinical and angiographic outcomes between female and male patients after CABG.

The records of 954 patients who underwent isolated CABG between 2004 and 2009 were reviewed. There were 188 female and 766 male patients. Female patients were smaller (P<0.0001) and had a more unstable status (P=0.0024) preoperatively compared with the male patients. Left internal thoracic artery (ITA) use was identical in both genders. However, the right ITA (P=0.006) and radial artery (P<0.0001) use were less frequent in females compared with that in males. Consequently, the use of saphenous vein grafts (SVGs) was more frequent in females than in males (P<0.0001). Mortality was similar between the genders (1.0% vs 1.1%). Although the rate of major complications was not significantly different between the genders (12.2% vs 9.5%), the cerebrovascular event rate was higher in females compared with that in males (4.3% vs 1.6%; P=0.0432). Patency rates of arterial grafts were not significantly different between the genders; however, those of SVGs were lower in females than those in males (88.6% vs 96.1%; P=0.0003).

The clinical outcomes of females after CABG were comparable with those of males.