Women age 65 or older who underwent coronary artery bypass grafting, have a higher mortality rate than men and are more likely to be treated at “low-quality hospitals”, according to a national study led by researchers from the University of Michigan and published July 10 in JAMA Network Open.
“Nationwide, women are both more likely to die after heart bypass surgery and more likely to undergo surgery at low-quality hospitals,” Catherine Wagner, MD, study author and integrated thoracic surgery resident at University of Michigan Health, said in a news release.
For the study, the authors analyzed outcomes from 444,855 Medicare beneficiaries who had coronary artery bypass grafting procedures between 2015 and 202. Of them, they found that women were 1.26 times more likely than men to be treated at low-quality hospitals and also that the mortality rates of the patients treated at low-quality hospitals were double that of high-quality ones.
The study defined a low-quality hospital as “facilities with the highest 30-day mortality rates,” according to the news release. At these facilities, women died in 7% of cases, compared to 5% for men.
“Our study shows that improvement in care at low-quality hospitals and equitable referral of women to high-quality hospitals may narrow these long-standing gaps in care,” Dr. Wagner said, adding that she is “optimistic that with this renewed focus on studying cardiovascular disease in women, we will achieve equitable outcomes for women undergoing heart surgery and improve care for all of our patients.”