Impact of Gender on Outcome in Octogenarians after Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting

Objectives: Increasing life expectancy makes cardiac surgery in octogenarians not very uncommon. In this study, the impact of gender on outcome of octogenarians after coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) was assessed.

Methods: We retrospectively studied 485 octogenarians (176 female: mean age 82.4 ± 2.2 years versus 306 male: mean age 82.2 ± 2.4 years) who underwent isolated CABG using extracorporeal circulation between January 2005 and December 2012.

Results: No significant differences were noted between both gender groups with regard to preoperative risk factors. At baseline, the groups differed significantly with respect to mean logistic EuroSCORE (women: 22.3 ± 17.4% versus men: 17.5 ± 13.3%; p < 0.001). Intraoperatively, the number of distal anastomoses (3.1 ± 0.9 versus 3.2 ± 0.8), the mean extracorporeal circulation time (99 ± 31 minute versus 102 ± 29 minute) and the mean aortic cross-clamp time (63 ± 31 minute versus 60 ± 19 minute) were similar in both groups. Postoperative, no significant differences in complications and major morbidity were observed between the groups. The 30-days mortality (women 8.0% versus men 9.7%; p = 0.62) were without statistical significance between the groups. Moreover, on multivariate analysis, female gender was not found to be independent risk factors for mortality.

Conclusions: Outcome of octogenarians after CABG resulted in acceptable mortality. Female gender was not associated with increased risks for morbidity and mortality after surgery. Satisfactory outcomes encourage the offering of surgery in octogenarians.