Risk factors and coronary artery obstruction in male and female patients with aortocoronary bypass operation.

In order to learn about some possible reasons for the low proportion of women among the patients with aortocoronary bypass operation (12-20%) we have compared the prevalence of hypertension, hyperlipidemia, history of smoking and chest pain in 110 women and 813 men with this surgical intervention. In spite of the similar or even higher prevalence of abnormal risk factors, the women patients showed less extensive coronary artery impairment than the male patients indicating their higher tolerance of the risk factors and lesser need for the bypass operation.