La coronariografía diagnóstica desde la perspectiva del sexo. The diagnostic coronary angiography from a gender perspective.

Introduction: Cardiovascular diseases are the main cause of women's death in the world.However, the under employment, in comparison with men, of diagnosticmethods and appropriate treatments, with smaller realization of hemodynamicstudies, causes great concern.Objective To determine the characteristics and potentials differences regarding genderof patients undergoing diagnostic invasive coronary angiography.Method We conducted a retrospective and descriptive study, with analysis of differencesaccording to gender. Clinical histories of patients undergoing invasivecoronary angiography at the National Institute of Cardiology and CardiovascularSurgery between January 2005 and September 2010 were revised.The information was included in Excel database for their statistical analysis.Results Of 12 130 diagnostic invasive coronary angiography, 28,3% correspondedwith women, mean age 61,2 ± 12,7 years, 5 years older when comparedwith men, (p < 0,01). For both women and men the most frequent diagnosiswas chronic stable angina (46%). 73,6% of women had personal antecedentsof hypertension and 34,1% of smoking habit. The left anterior descendingcoronary artery had the highest prevalence of significant stenosis.Women underwent less ventriculography (17,2%, p <0,001) and receivedmore medical treatment despite the severity of coronary artery disease,when compared with men, who underwent more to angioplasty and surgicalrevascularization.Conclusions Females present important differences compared with males patients in theHemodynamic laboratory, regarding clinical characteristics, the results ofthe invasive coronary angiography and the recommended treatment.