Higher Risk of Hospitalization Among Females with Cystic Fibrosis

Background: Persons with cystic fibrosis (CF) who tend to be hospitalized have poorer overall survival and quality of life. Whether differences exist in hospitalization rates between males and females with CF is unknown. The objective was to assess sex-specific differences in hospitalization rates after adjusting for clinically important factors within a universal health care system.

Methods: A provincial-based longitudinal study using national CF registry data linked to health administrative databases examined differences in annual hospitalization rates estimated by Poisson regression using generalized estimating equations with adjustment for markers of CF disease severity.

Results: Among those aged 7 to 19 years, the RR of respiratory-related annual hospitalizations among females vs. males was 1.38 (95% CI 1.11-1.73). Among those over 19 years, the corresponding RR was 1.30 (95% CI 1.06-1.59).

Conclusions: Females affected by CF are at a higher risk of respiratory-related hospitalization, which may extend beyond classic clinical measures of disease severity.