Prognosis in myocardial infarction in relation to gender

We studied 921 consecutive patients admitted to a single hospital for acute myocardial infarction during a period of 21 months and related their prognosis to gender. Women (n = 300, 33%) were on average 7 years older (p < 0.001) and more frequently had a previous history of hypertension (p < 0.001) and congestive heart failure (p < 0.001) than did men. They also tended to delay longer in seeking medical treatment and more often presented with only vague symptoms (p < 0.05). The in-hospital mortality for women was 19% versus 12% for men (p < 0.01). Women more often showed signs of congestive heart failure (p < 0.05) despite smaller infarcts as estimated from enzyme levels (p < 0.05). Total mortality during 1 year was 36% in women and 25% in men (p < 0.01). In a multivariate analysis, female gender did not appear as an independent risk factor for death. During 1 year of follow-up no differences in morbidity were observed between the sexes. We conclude that if women fare worse than men after suffering an acute myocardial infarction, the increased mortality is accounted for by older age.