| Summary: | Women die after AMI at a rate approximately double that of men (Blister et al., 2000), as
evidenced by an abundant number of epidemiological and clinical studies. Contentious
debate about this alarming problem has been fueled by inadequate conceptualization of
the problem, and misread evidence resulting from selection bias. The purpose of this
study was to examine gender differences in the associations between sociodemographics
and comorbidities (CHF, hypertension, diabetes) and short-term mortality after AMI.
Surprisingly, there is no published study to date that has examined the effects of these
factors on mortality after AMI in the Canadian context. The study was of exploratory,
descriptive design and secondary analysis was used. The AMI cohort (n = 1, 365) was the
total population of patients (342 women, 827 men) in 1994 diagnosed with AMITCD 9
Code 410 and admitted to a BC hospital. A logistic regression model was used to assess
independently the effects of age and gender and to control the effects of possible
confounders (CHF, hypertension, diabetes, SES) on the outcome variable (mortality).
Significantly more women (19.9%) died after AMI compared to men (10.5%; odds ratio
1.81, 95% CI 1.24 - 2.64) within the initial hospitalization. CHF was a significant
predictor of mortality (odds ratio 1.76, 95% CI 1.05 - 2.93), hypertension, diabetes, and
SES Quintile were not significant predictors. The results of this study have implications
for critically needed research on gender differences in mortality after AMI, judicious
screening/monitoring of women, follow-up, and population health. === Applied Science, Faculty of === Nursing, School of === Graduate
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