Background and aim: The problem of a possible gender bias in coronary heart disease management is still controversial. We studied gender differences in secondary preventive drug prescriptions and in referral to cardiac rehabilitation after acute coronary events in France.
Methods: An observational survey was carried out in 1998-1999 in 150 French intensive cardiac care units. A sample of 2626 consecutive patients admitted for myocardial infarction or unstable angina and alive at discharge was included. Data were retrospectively collected from medical records after discharge.
Results: The sample was composed of 1921 men and 705 women. At discharge, antiplatelet agents were prescribed in 93.4% of men and 91.5% of women (p=0.09), beta-blockers in 73.4% and 63.7% (p<0.0001), angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors in 39.9% and 44.3% (p<0.05), and statins in 47.0% and 40.7% (p<0.01). The percentage of subjects referred to a cardiac rehabilitation program at discharge was 26.2% in men and 15.5% in women (p<0.0001). In multivariate analysis, taking into account confounding factors, gender did not appear as an independent determinant of drug prescriptions. Conversely, being a woman was independently associated with a lower probability to be referred to a cardiac rehabilitation program at discharge (adjusted female-to-male odds ratio: 0.44 (95% confidence interval: [0.31-0.64], p<0.0001).
Conclusions: In this study, gender was not an independent determinant of secondary preventive drug prescriptions after acute coronary events. Conversely, we found a gender bias in referral to cardiac rehabilitation programs at discharge.