title: The impact of gender on prognosis after non-cardiac vascular surgery.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The objective was to evaluate the impact of gender on long-term survival of patients who underwent non-cardiac vascular surgery.
  
  
  METHODS
  Our prospectively collected data contained information on 560 patients undergoing carotid endarterectomy (CEA), 923 elective abdominal aortic aneurysm repairs (AAA) and 1046 lower limb reconstructions (LLR). Patient characteristics and long-term mortality of women were compared to that of men. Kaplan-Meier (KM) survival curves were constructed for men and women, on which we superimposed age- and sex-matched KM survival curves of the general population. Cox proportional hazards regression was used to identify risk factors for mortality.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Men in the CEA group had statistically significant higher all-cause mortality, hazard rate ratio (HRR) 1.41 (95% CI 1.01-1.98) No differences in mortality between the genders were observed in the AAA and LLR groups. Overall, men had more co-morbidities but received more disease-specific medication compared to women. Women retained their higher life expectancy after CEA but lost it in the AAA and LLR groups.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Women retain their higher life expectancy after CEA; however, after AAA repair and LLR, this advantage is lost. Both men and women received too little disease-specific medication, but women were worse off.
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, Erasmus MC, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Grootenboer
authors.forename: M G M
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Hunink
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hoeks
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Hendriks
authors.forename: M R H M
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: van Sambeek
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Poldermans
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D017544:Aortic Aneurysm, Abdominal / Q000401:mortality / Q000601:surgery; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000401:mortality; D016893:Carotid Stenosis / Q000601:surgery; D002423:Cause of Death; D016894:Endarterectomy, Carotid; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007866:Leg / Q000098:blood supply; D008017:Life Expectancy; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D058729:Peripheral Arterial Disease / Q000401:mortality / Q000601:surgery; D011379:Prognosis; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D012737:Sex Factors; D015996:Survival Rate; D014656:Vascular Surgical Procedures / Q000401:mortality*