Two Decades of Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting in Women: Has Anything Changed?

Studies have shown that women have worse outcomes after coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG); it is unclear whether this knowledge has led to improved outcomes over time. This study sought to examine temporal trends in women undergoing CABG.

From 2000 to 2021, 9062 women underwent isolated CABG at a single institution. The institutional Society of Thoracic Surgeons database was queried for preoperative, intraoperative, and postoperative variables. The cohort was stratified by date of operation into 6 groups coinciding with versions of The Society of Thoracic Surgeons database: 2002-2004/version 2.41 (n = 1348 [15%]), 2004-2007/version 2.52 (n = 2413 [27%]), 2008-2011/version 2.61 (n = 2244 [25%]), 2011-2014/version 2.73 (n = 1230 [14%]), 2014-2017/version 2.81 (n = 783 [9%]), and 2017-2021/version 2.9 (n = 1044 [12%]).

The median age was 66 (interquartile range, 58-74) years. Comorbid conditions including chronic lung disease, cerebrovascular disease, diabetes, hypertension, and heart failure increased over time. The number of urgent CABG procedures increased from 20% in the 2002-2004 group to 66% in the 2017-2021 group, whereas the number of elective CABG procedures decreased from 76% to 32% (P < .001). From 2002-2004 to 2017-2021, internal mammary artery use increased from 85% to 92% (P < .001). Mortality did not improve for women over time, in-hospital mortality was significantly higher for women (3.6%) than for men (1.8%; P < .001), and the gap between women and men remained unchanged over time.

Mortality of women undergoing CABG at our institution (3.6%) remains higher than the overall national average (∼2%) and that of the male institutional cohort (1.8%). Further studies to understand this disparity and to improve care for women undergoing CABG are needed.