Purpose: To evaluate the effects of sex and anthropometry on clinical outcomes in patients who underwent percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI).
Materials and methods: From three randomized trials (REal Safety and Efficacy of 3-month dual antiplatelet Therapy following Endeavor zotarolimus-eluting stent implantation, Impact of intraVascular UltraSound guidance on outcomes of Xience Prime stents in Long lesions, Chronic Total Occlusion InterVention with drUg-eluting Stents), we compared 333 pairs of men and women matched by propensity scores, all of whom underwent intravascular ultrasound (IVUS)-guided PCI for complex lesions.
Results: For 12 months, the incidence of adverse cardiac events, defined as the composite of cardiac death, target lesion-related myocardial infarction, and target lesion revascularization, was not different between women and men (2.4% vs. 2.4%, p=0.939). Using multivariable Cox's regression analysis, post-intervention minimum lumen area [MLA; hazard ratio (HR)=0.620, 95% confidence interval (CI)=0.423-0.909, p=0.014] by IVUS was a predictor of adverse cardiac events. Height on anthropometry and lesions with chronic total occlusion were significantly related to post-intervention MLA. However, female sex was not independently associated with post-intervention MLA. In an age and sex-adjusted model, patients in the low tertile of height exhibited a greater risk for adverse cardiac events than those in the high tertile of height (HR=6.391, 95% CI=1.160-35.206, p=0.033).
Conclusion: Sex does not affect clinical outcomes after PCI for complex lesions. PCI outcomes, however, may be adversely affected by height.
Keywords: Coronary artery disease; intravascular ultrasound; sex.