Introduction:

Women suffering from acute coronary syndromes (ACS) have worse prognosis and are prone to major adverse events.

Objective:

To characterize female patients with ACS admitted to the Hospital Dr. Carlos J. Finlay (Havana, Cuba) between June 2012 and June 2018.

Method:

A cross-sectional descriptive study with 1252 women was carried out. Two groups were defined: ST-segment elevation ACS (STE-ACS) and non-ST-segment elevation ACS (NSTE-ACS). Study variables were: age groups, risk factors, angiographic characteristics and in-hospital major adverse events.

Results:

Mean age was 66.2 ± 11.9 years old, NSTE-ACS predominated (73.4% vs 26,6%). High blood pressure (95.2%), tobacco smoking (37.9%) and diabetes mellitus (36.3%) were the prevailing risk factor, with significant differences in favor of NSTE-ACS (p <0.004). Glycemia values (69.1% vs 51.5%, p <0.00001) and total cholesterol (46.2% vs 16.6%, p <0.00001) were significantly higher in the NSTE-ACS. A 29.3% of cases underwent coronary angiography where a high prevalence of serious lesions of 73.3% and an incidence of left main coronary artery disease of 4.9% were found. A 23% presented major adverse events, heart failure (35.1%) and cardiogenic shock (18.1%) being the most prevalent ones. Cardiogenic shock predominated as cause of death in STE-ACS (45.1 vs 11,8; p<0,0001). Both major adverse events were directly related to mortality (3.8%).

Conclusions:

There is a predominance of NSTE-ACS in women with ACS in postmenopausal ages. High blood pressure, diabetes mellitus and tobacco smoking were the main clinical characteristics. Cardiogenic shock and heart failure were the major adverse events most frequently associated to mortality.

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