0159: Gender differences in a population of patients with chronic heart failure related to left ventricular systolic dysfunction and receiving optimal medical therapy

Abstract

Controversial results have been published concerning a possible gender survival difference in patients with chronic heart failure (CHF). We analyzed data from consecutive patients with stable CHF admitted to our chronic heart failure unit. Patients underwent coronary angiography, echocardiography and biological exams. We included 563 consecutive patients of whom 243 (43.16%) were women. The major difference in clinical characteristics was a higher proportion of hypertension, dyslipidemia and diabetes in women compared to men (64.9 vs. 35.1%; p=0.01, 65.9% vs. 34.1%; p=0.0001 and 62.7% vs. 37.3%; p=0.0001 respectively), men are more frequently smoker with higher ischemic cardiomyopathy compared to women (64.6% vs. 35.4%, p=0.0001), they had a lower left ventricular ejection fraction (35%±9 vs. 38%±9%, p=0.05). Level of serum uric acid was higher in men (63.7±18.1 g/l vs. 59.1±20.3 g/l; p=0.005) while they preserved more their mean Glomerular Filtration Rate (GFR): 65.17±24.6mL/min vs. 58.47±22.98mL/min. Therapeutic management was similar in men and women. There was no gender difference in cardiac survival. Cardiovascular mortality rates at 2 years were 11% in men and 13% in women. Despite a lower percentage of ischemic cardiomyopathy in women, no gender survival benefit was found in our population of CHF patients receiving optimal medical therapy.