Sex difference in long-term clinical outcome after sirolimus-eluting stent implantation

Background Coronary stenting in women has been associated with worse results in terms of morbidity, mortality, and restenosis rate in the bare-metal stent era, possibly due to higher risk profile and smaller coronary vessels. Although drug-eluting stents have equalized clinical results, no data are available on long-term outcomes between sexes. Objectives To evaluate the role of sex in acute, mid-term, and long-term clinical outcome after sirolimus-eluting stent (SES) implantation. Methods We retrospectively evaluated 1186 patients, 970 (81.8%) male and 216 (18.2%) female, treated with SES implantation between April 2002 and December 2005. Results Women were older (P = 0.049), more likely to have hypertension (43.5 vs. 33.7%, P = 0.006), single-vessel disease (63.9 vs. 42.5%, P = 0.03), and unstable angina (16.6% vs. 9.2%, P = 0.001) and more frequently received small (<= 2.75mm) vessel stenting (39.3 vs. 28.2%, P = 0.001). The two groups were similar for lesion and procedural characteristics. Overall, the stent thrombosis rate was 0.4% (0.5% in women vs. 0.3% in men, P = not significant). At 6-month follow-up, no significant difference in major adverse cardiac event was observed. Long-term follow-up (median time 33.2 months), available in 180 (83.3%) women and 720 (75%) men, showed higher angina recurrence rate (17.7 vs. 11%, P = 0.013), percutaneous coronary re-intervention (16.1 vs. 8.7%, P = 0.001) and target vessel revascularization (3.9 vs. 0.9%, P = 0.001) in women compared with men. Late stent thrombosis, need for coronary artery bypass grafting, and mortality were similar in both groups. Conclusion No sex difference was observed in acute and 6-month outcome after SES implantation despite older age, more unstable clinical presentation, and more frequent small vessel stenting in women. However, long-term clinical follow-up (up to 5 years) in women showed higher symptom recurrence and target vessel revascularization rate but no difference in overall major adverse cardiac events.