Significant Improvement in Short-Term Mortality in Women Undergoing Coronary Artery Bypass Surgery (1991 to 2004)

Significant Improvement in Short-Term Mortality in Women Undergoing Coronary Artery Bypass Surgery (1991 to 2004) Karin H. Humphries, Min Gao, Aihua Pu, Samuel Lichtenstein, Christopher R. Thompson In a population-based cohort of 20,229 men and 4,983 women undergoing coronary artery bypass surgery, female 30-day mortality decreased from 5.6% in 1991 to 1.9% in 2004 and decreased from 2.4% to 1.9% in men. Overall, 30-day mortality was significantly higher in women (3.6% vs. 2.0%, p < 0.001) and adjustment for baseline differences did not remove this difference (odds ratio 1.42, 95% confidence interval 1.15 to 1.75). Adjustment for body surface area, an intrinsic gender difference, further attenuated the relationship (odds ratio 1.26, 95% confidence interval 0.96 to 1.64), suggesting that the gender difference is partially mediated through body surface area, a surrogate for coronary vessel size.