The contention that mortality after acute myocardial infarction (AMI) is increased in women compared with men has been controversial, with findings in a recent multicenter study suggesting that gender plays an important prognostic role. To assess whether or not early and late mortality after AMI is greater in women, 2,089 patients (1,551 men, 538 women) were followed for 1 year after AMI. In the hospital, women had an increased mortality compared to men (17.5 vs 12.3%, p less than 0.003) and were on average 7 years older, whereas after hospital discharge and up to 1 year no difference in mortality was observed. Multivariate analyses of historical, clinical and laboratory features demonstrated that gender had no independent predictive value when variables that included age, congestive heart failure in the hospital, history of congestive failure, prior AMI and diabetes mellitus were considered. Moreover, when age stratification was performed, the significant difference of in-hospital mortality between genders was no longer present. Causes of death in the hospital and during 1 year after hospital discharge were similar between men and women, whether or not age stratification was performed. Several baseline clinical characteristics were different between men and women; a history of systemic hypertension and congestive heart failure occurred more frequently in women and previous AMI and smoking occurred more commonly in men. Also, the value of several other important prognostic indicators after AMI, such as the ejection fraction, was found to differ between men and women.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)