Prognostic relevance of female gender on mortality after peripheral artery disease revascularization

Introduction: Lower limb peripheral artery disease (PAD) presents high morbidity and mortality. Women represent a small subgroup in different studies, with scarce evidence regarding the prognosis of this gender on PAD. The aim of the present work was to determine the prognostic impact of female gender on lower limb PAD revascularization. Methods: This was a retrospective, single-center study, including patients undergoing symptomatic lower limb PAD revascularization. Results: Among a total of 309 patients included in the study, 109 belonged to the female gender (35%). Women were older and presented lower prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors compared with the male gender. All-cause mortality (22% vs. 12%, p = 0.02) and re -hospitalizations for chronic limb-threatening ischemia (18% vs. 10%, p = 0.04) rates were significantly higher in women. In a multivariate regression model, female gender was independently associated with all-cause mortality (OR 2.19 [95% CI: 1.06-4.51], p = 0.03). The time -to-event showed that women exhibited 93% more risk of suffering death than men, after adjusting for clinically relevant variables (HR 1.93 [95% CI: 1.04-3.56], p = 0.04). Discussion: Women with symptomatic PAD revascularization presented worse prognosis than men in terms of all-cause mortality and re-hospitalizations for chronic limb-threatening ischemia rates. Therefore, it is essential to achieve an adequate control of cardiovascular risk factors, as well as to optimize medical treatment in female patients.