Objective To determine differences in adherence to secondary prevention guidelines among coronary artery disease (CAD) patients between a traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) hospital and a general hospital in a Chinese city.Methods Medical records of 200 patients consecutively discharged from the TCM hospital and the general hospital for CAD were reviewed to determine the proportions of eligible patients who received antiplatelet agents, β-blockers, angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors or angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs) and statins on discharge.The effects of patient characteristics and hospital type on the use of these medicines were estimated using logistic regression models.Results Patients discharged from the TCM hospitals were older; more likely women; had greater history of hyperlipidemia, cerebrovascular diseases and less smoker.They were less likely to receive coronary angiography and percutaneous coronary intervention, and had a longer length of stay than those discharged from the general hospital.There were no significant differences on antiplatelet agents (96% vs.100%, P=0.121) or statins (97.9% vs.100%, P=0.149) use between the TCM hospital and the general hospital among eligible patients.In multivariable analyses that adjusted for patient characteristics and hospital type, there was no significant difference in use of β-blockers between the TCM hospital and the general hospital.In contrast, ACE inhibitors/ARBs were less likely to be given to those eligible that were discharged from the TCM hospital (odds ratio: 0.3, 95% confidence interval: 0.105-0.854) compared with those discharged from the general hospital.Conclusions TCM hospital provides the same quality of care in CAD for prescribing evidence-based medications on discharge compared with general hospital except for ACE inhibitors/ARBs use.