GOLDEN, Colorado – Women undergoing cardiovascular surgical procedures in U.S. hospitals have a higher chance of dying than men, according to new research.
A study of outcomes in U.S. hospitals released by HealthGrades, a leading independent health care ratings organization, examined rates of mortality among men and women and found unique differences in outcomes.
Women have a higher risk of mortality in three different cardiovascular procedures, valve-replacement surgery, where they had a 52.8% higher risk, coronary bypass surgery, at a 35.5% higher risk and coronary intervention procedures with a 19.5% difference.
In addition to different outcomes for heart procedures, it was also found women have a 5.8% higher risk of dying after a stroke than men do.
There are some categories where women have a better rate of surviving hospitalizations than men, and these include chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (16.4% lower risk), heart failure, (12.8%) , pneumonia (10.6% and heart attack (2.4%. These differences, however, are significantly less than the differences between men and women with heart attack or stroke.
Variations also occurred among hospitals. Women over age 65 at the top 5% of non-federal hospitals and those rated as the top 5% of hospital had a much better chance of surviving hospitalization with mortality rates 40.5% lower than the poorest performing hospitals. They were also 19.1% less apt to have complications at these same hospitals.
Top performing hospitals not only showed better survival rates for patients but also improved performance more than poorer performing hospitals.
Fifty-one percent of the top 5% best performing hospitals were in the following six states, Florida (20), Ohio (15), Texas (14), Illinois (13), Pennsylvania (12) and California (11).
Outcomes of the study were developed by Medicare data from all 50 states during the period 2006 through 2008 and evaluated by Healthgrades.
Source: Vancouverite
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