Women Benefit from Bypass Surgery

Several recent studies have found that women are less likely to be sent for coronary bypass surgery. Women with heart disease tend to be older than men with similar conditions. Women often have co-existing diseases and some doctors still believe that they are poorer candidates for surgery.

Dr. Lynda Mickleborough, a cardiovascular surgeon, and her colleagues at the Toronto Hospital studied 1132 men and 355 women who underwent bypass surgery. They found that women were no more likely to die during surgery than men were, even though the female patients were older and suffered from more illnesses.

Researchers at Harvard Medical School found that women also seem to benefit from bypass surgery as much or more than men. The researchers studied 436 female and male bypass surgery patients. The women reported similar or greater improvements in daily living, mental health and vitality than the men.



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