Publication Date
2013
Journal
The Texas Heart Journal
PMID
24391311
Publication Date(s)
2013
Language
English
PMCID
PMC3853839
PubMedCentral® Posted Date
2013
PubMedCentral® Full Text Version
Post-Print
Published Open-Access
yes
Keywords
Cachexia/blood, chronic disease, heart failure/mortality, female, follow-up studies, male, predictive value of tests, prognosis, risk assessment, sex factors, survival analysis, triglycerides/blood, univariate analysis
Copyright
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Abstract
Understanding the influence of sex differences on predictors of cardiac mortality rates in chronic heart failure might enable us to lengthen lifetimes and to improve lives. This study describes the influence of sex on cardiovascular mortality rates among chronic heart failure patients.
From January 2003 through December 2009, we evaluated 637 consecutive patients (409 men and 228 women) with chronic heart failure, who ranged in age from 18 through 94 years (mean age, 64 ± 13 yr) and ranged in New York Heart Association (NYHA) functional class from II through IV. The mean follow-up period was 38 ± 15 months, the mean age was 64 ± 13 years, and the mean left ventricular ejection fraction was 0.27 ±0.11.
By the end of the study, both sexes had similar cardiovascular mortality rates (36% men vs 37% women, P=0.559). In Cox regression analysis, NYHA functional class, triglyceride level, and history of coronary artery disease were independent predictors of cardiovascular death for women with chronic heart failure. For men with chronic heart failure, the patient's age, ejection fraction, and sodium level were independent predictors of cardiovascular death.
In a modern tertiary referral heart failure clinic, decreased triglyceride levels were, upon univariate analysis, predictors of poor outcomes for both men and women. However, upon Cox regression analysis, reduced triglyceride levels were independent predictors of cardiac death only in women.