Comparison of the long-term, postsurgical survival of women and men in the Coronary Artery Surgery Study (CASS)

This study compares the survival of men and women an average of 6 years after coronary artery bypass graft surgery (CABG) by means of the Coronary Artery Surgery Study (CASS) registry. Subjects included in these analyses were the 6100 men and 1097 women who survived surgery. Medical history and physical and laboratory information were collected from each patient at baseline. Men and women were compared for differences in baseline characteristics, long-term survival (by means of the Cox proportional hazards models), and predictors of long-term survival. In this study women, at baseline, were older and more likely to have hypertension and diabetes compared to men; whereas men were more likely to have had prior coronary heart disease. In this study of CASS participants there was no difference between men and women with regard to survival after CABG. There was also no difference between men and women in predictors of 6-year mortality. Two baseline variables were strongly related to subsequent mortality in both men and women: a high left ventricular wall motion score and taking both digitalis and diuretics (for women: relative risk = 2.31, confidence interval = 1.38 to 3.87; for men: relative risk = 1.90, confidence interval = 1.45 to 2.50).