Background: The aim of this study was to assess gender differences in admission level of care, management and outcome in patients with non ST-elevation acute coronary syndromes (NSTE-ACS), initially admitted to either coronary care units (CCU) or general wards.
Method: Patients admitted to CCUs were routinely registered in the RIKS-HIA registry. In addition, patients admitted to general wards with suspected ACS were also identified and registered. Multivariable regression analysis was used to adjust for baseline differences between the genders.
Results: We included 570 consecutive patients with a discharge diagnosis of NSTE-ACS. Women were less likely to be admitted to coronary care units (56% versus 69%, P=0.002), even after adjustment (odds ratio (OR), 0.65; 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.43-0.98). After adjustment for differences in baseline characteristics, women were treated similarly to men. We found no significant differences in crude short-, or long-term mortality between the genders. However, adjustment for background characteristics revealed lower one-year mortality in women (OR: 0.58; 95% CI: 0.34-0.99).
Conclusion: In this study on patients with NSTE-ACS, women were less likely to be admitted to coronary care units. However, the overall treatment was as intensive for women as for men. Moreover, after adjustment, one-year mortality was lower in women.