Gender Differences Among Norwegian Patients with Heart Failure

Background: Recent studies have suggested differences in outcome and treatment between men and women with heart failure. The aim of this study was to see if there were gender differences in the treatment and outcome in real life heart failure patients.

Methods: Norwegian Heart Failure Registry was used. Three-thousand-six-hundred-and-thirty-two patients (men, n = 2545 (70%), women, n = 1087 (30%)) were included in the study from January 2000 to February 2006. Patients were followed up until death or December 31 2006. The cohort was split into patients with an ejection fraction (EF) less and above 50% and genders were then compared.

Results: In the group with EF ≥ 50% the only difference between basic characteristics was that men had a lower heart rate. In the group with an EF<50% women were older, had a higher heart rate, had less often atrial fibrillation, were less often smokers and had a more severe NYHA-classification compared to men. More men used statins and warfarin and coronary heart disease (CHD) was more common as the underlying cause of heart failure among men compared to women. In a Kaplan-Meier analysis there was no significant difference between men and women concerning survival.

Conclusion: There are differences in basic characteristics, medical history and treatment between men and women in the Norwegian Heart Failure Registry. The survival rates were equal between men and women in this group of real life patients with heart failure.