Prognosis of 1000 young women studied by coronary angiography

One thousand women younger than age 50 years suspected of having coronary disease were followed for at least 5 years (average 8.4 years) to determine their course after coronary arteriography. Three patients were lost to follow-up; all had normal arteriograms. The survival rate was 96.9% at 5 years for 761 patients who had less than 50% narrowing of any artery. One patient who had coronary ectasia died within 5 years, and one woman who had minimal lesions suffered sudden death. Seven of 727 women who had normal arteries or less than 30% narrowing of any artery had coronary events (death, myocardial infarction, bypass operation for progressive disease), and six of 34 women who had 30 to almost 50% obstruction of at least one artery had coronary events. Calculations of survival for 236 women who had severe coronary lesions were affected by withdrawal for operation. Five-year survival was 74%.