Co-morbidities in Coronary Artery Disease Post-menopausal Women: Data from Southern Italy

The aim of our study was to determine the “real-world” prevalence of co-morbidities in a Southern Italian population of postmenopausal women with or without coronary artery disease (CAD) who come to the emergency department for chest pain and suspicion of coronary involvement. 6535 post-menopausal women (mean age: 64 + 9 years) were enrolled in the study. On the base of results of coronary angiography we recognized CAD-group and CADfree group. Congestive heart failure (CHF), stroke and chronic lower respiratory tract diseases (CLRTD), hypertension, diabetes, dizziness or syncope, chronic renal failure, urinary incontinence, >4 medications and/or Warfarin use were detected. Results of our study show that 528 (8.1%) women suffered from CAD. Compared to CAD free group, women with CAD have higher prevalence of CHF (9.1% vs. 1.6%, p=0.02), stroke (6% vs. 0.6%, p<0.01) and CLTRD (6.5% vs. 5.4%, p=0.04). Moreover in CAD population, we found significant higher percentages of patients with low GFR (0.9% vs. 0.6%, p=0.02) and Warfarin use (2.3% vs. 2%, p<0.01) than in CAD-free one. The two group did not differ about hypertension, diabetes mellitus, >4 medications use and urinary incontinence (p=ns). Among postmenopausal women with chest pain and suspicion of coronary involvement, those with CAD showed higher co-morbidities percentage than CAD-free. The overall clinical condition should be considered in order to ameliorate care, improve quality of life, reduce morbidity/mortality.