Female gender does not have any significant impact on the early postoperative outcomes after coronary artery bypass grafting: a propensity-matched analysis.

Purpose: Coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) is the most common cardiac surgical procedure performed in India. There are fundamental differences between males and females in the incidence and responses of the body to various diseases. These differences are noticeable, more so in conditions relating to cardiovascular health, particularly coronary artery disease (CAD). This study aims to assess the gender differences in the early postoperative outcomes following CABG.

Methods: Between April 1999 through February 2018, 13,415 patients underwent isolated CABG in our practice. Propensity score matching was performed to yield 1825 well-matched pairs in each gender. These groups were compared in terms of various early postoperative outcomes.

Results: There were no significant differences between females and males in terms of early postoperative composite outcomes (4.2% vs. 5.2%) (odds ratio (OR) 0.82; 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.60-1.12,  = 0.213) of 30-day mortality, non-fatal myocardial infarction (MI), non-fatal cerebrovascular accidents (CVA), and need for renal replacement therapy (RRT), 30-day mortality (0.7% vs. 0.7%) (OR 1.11; 95%CI 0.50-2.45,  = 0.796), MI (2.7% vs. 3.1%) (OR 0.93; 95%CI 0.63-1.37,  = 0.708), CVA (0.4% vs. 0.8%) (OR 0.46; 95%CI 0.19-1.14,  = 0.096), and need for RRT (0.7% vs. 0.7%) (OR 0.88; 95%CI 0.40-1.93,  = 0.753).

Conclusion: Females have similar early postoperative outcomes compared to males in terms of composite outcomes of 30-day mortality, non-fatal MI, non-fatal CVA, and RRT among patients undergoing CABG. The outcomes are also similar when individually assessed. The off-pump technique has no additional benefit compared to the on-pump technique in females undergoing CABG.