Sex Differences in Clinical Characteristics and 1- and 10-Year Mortality Among Patients Hospitalized With Acute Heart Failure.

BACKGROUND

The impact of sex on mortality in patients with acute heart failure (AHF) is unresolved. We aimed to investigate the impact of sex on both short- and long-term mortality outcomes after hospitalization for AHF.

METHODS

We analyzed data of 2,328 patients with AHF who were enrolled in the multicenter national survey in Israel between March and April 2003 and followed up until December 2014.

RESULTS

Women comprised 45% of the study population. In comparison with men, women were older, had higher rates of heart failure with preserved ejection fraction as well as hypertensive heart disease and had a lower rate of coronary artery disease (all P < 0.001). Survival analysis showed that at 1 year the rate of all-cause mortality was 31% among women compared to 28% among men (P = 0.19). At 10-year follow-up mortality rates were significantly higher among women compared to men (87% vs. 83%, P = 0.048). However, this sex association disappeared once multivariable analysis was carried out, (hazard ratio [HR] = 0.93; CI = 0.79-1.09, P = 0.36). Renal dysfunction, older age and severe heart failure were consistent independent predictors of mortality among men and women. Hyponatremia was a prognostic predictor only among men, whereas digoxin use predicted mortality only among women.

CONCLUSIONS

There are important differences in the clinical characteristics between women and men hospitalized with AHF. There were no significant differences in both short- and long-term mortality following multivariable analysis. Although, most independent predictors of mortality were consistent among both sexes, few sex-based differences in prognostic predictors were identified.