Sex-Specific Differences at Presentation and Outcomes Among Patients Undergoing Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement: A Cohort Study

Background: Female sex is associated with poorer outcomes after surgical aortic valve replacement (SAVR). Data on sex-specific differences after transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) are conflicting.

Objective: To examine sex-specific differences in patients undergoing TAVR in the PARTNER (Placement of Aortic Transcatheter Valves) trial.

Design: Secondary analysis of the randomized and nonrandomized portions of the PARTNER trial. (ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT00530894).

Setting: 25 hospitals in the United States, Canada, and Germany.

Patients: High-risk and inoperable patients (1220 women and 1339 men).

Intervention: TAVR.

Measurements: Demographic characteristics, cardiac and noncardiac comorbidities, mortality, stroke, rehospitalization, vascular complications, bleeding complications, and echocardiographic valve parameters.

Results: At baseline, women had lower rates of hyperlipidemia, diabetes, smoking, and renal disease but higher Society of Thoracic Surgeons Predicted Risk of Mortality scores (11.9% vs. 11.1%; P < 0.001). After TAVR, women had more vascular complications (17.3% vs. 10.0%; difference, 7.29 percentage points [95% CI, 4.63 to 9.95 percentage points]; P < 0.001) and major bleeding (10.5% vs. 7.7%; difference, 2.8 percentage points [CI, 0.57 to 5.04 percentage points]; P = 0.012) but less frequent moderate and severe paravalvular regurgitation (6.0% vs. 14.3%; difference, -8.3 percentage points [CI, -11.7 to -5.0 percentage points]; P < 0.001). At 30 days, the unadjusted all-cause mortality rate (6.5% vs. 5.9%; difference, 0.6 percentage point [CI, -1.29 to 2.45 percentage points]; P = 0.52) and stroke incidence (3.8% vs. 3.0%; difference, 0.8 percentage point [CI, -0.62 to 2.19 percentage points]; P = 0.28) were similar. At 1 year, all-cause mortality was significantly lower in women than in men (19.0% vs. 25.9%; hazard ratio, 0.72 [CI, 0.61 to 0.85]; P < 0.001).

Limitation: Secondary analysis that included nonrandomized trial data.

Conclusion: Despite a higher incidence of vascular and bleeding complications, women having TAVR had lower mortality than men at 1 year. Thus, sex-specific risk in TAVR is the opposite of that in SAVR, for which female sex has been shown to be independently associated with an adverse prognosis.

Primary Funding Source: Edwards Lifesciences.