Clinical profile and long-term prognosis of women < or = 50 years of age referred for coronary angiography for evaluation of chest pain.

A significant lack of information exists regarding risk factors, preventive strategies, diagnostic testing, and treatment of women with coronary artery disease (CAD), especially in the young age group. We studied the clinical profile, angiographic results, and long-term follow-up of 135 women aged < or =50 years referred for coronary angiography because of chest pain. The most prominent risk factor was hyperlipidemia (60%), followed by a family history of coronary disease (44%), systemic hypertension (40%), cigarette smoking (31%), postmenopausal state (23%), and diabetes mellitus (21%). Angiographically significant CAD was demonstrated in 79 of 135 patients (58%), most of whom (61%) had 1-vessel CAD. Women with compared to those without significant CAD had a higher prevalence of hyperlipidemia (71% vs 45%; p = 0.002) and of the post-menopausal state (30% vs 16%; p = 0.028). There was no difference in the incidence of positive noninvasive evaluation (ergometry or thallium scan) before catheterization between women with or without significant coronary lesions. At a follow-up period of 2 to 7 years, 3 women had acute myocardial infarction, all of whom demonstrated coronary lesions on prior angiography. No difference was found regarding the recurrence of chest pain on follow-up between women with or without significant CAD. Mortality and congestive heart failure were observed more frequently in women with CAD (6% vs 0%; p = 0.0516 and 12% vs 2%; p = 0.047, respectively).