Gender differences in symptoms during 60-second balloon occlusion of the coronary artery

Previous investigations have demonstrated the presence of gender differences in the symptoms of angina pectoris and acute coronary syndrome. However, most of these investigations have had certain limitations, including being retrospective, an interview-related bias, a various duration of myocardial ischemia, and a lack of multivariate analysis, all of which would have affected the results. Accordingly, we prospectively examined the presence or absence of chest pain and non-chest pain symptoms during a 60-second balloon inflation in the setting of percutaneous coronary intervention, which provides a unique model of transient myocardial ischemia, in 110 men and 80 women with coronary artery disease. Chest pain and/or non-chest pain symptoms (occipital pain, jaw pain, neck/throat pain, shoulder pain, upper arm pain, back pain, and nausea) were observed during the balloon inflation in 72 men and 52 women. In the 124 patients with any symptoms during the balloon inflation, non-chest pain symptoms were more common in women than in men (31% vs 14%, p = 0.02); however, the incidence of chest pain did not differ between the men and women. After adjustment for covariables, including age, body mass index, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, current smoking, previous myocardial infarction, target vessels, β-blocker use, and calcium antagonist use, female gender remained significantly associated with non-chest pain symptoms (odds ratio 3.3, 95% confidence interval 1.2 to 9.9, p = 0.02). In conclusion, non-chest pain symptoms during the 60-second balloon occlusion of the coronary artery were more common in women than in men, supporting the presence of the gender difference in myocardial ischemic symptoms.