Cookies on this website

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you click 'Accept all cookies' we'll assume that you are happy to receive all cookies and you won't see this message again. If you click 'Reject all non-essential cookies' only necessary cookies providing core functionality such as security, network management, and accessibility will be enabled. Click 'Find out more' for information on how to change your cookie settings.

© 2020 The Authors. European Journal of Heart Failure published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of European Society of Cardiology. Aims: To understand gender differences in the prognosis of women and men with heart failure, we compared mortality, cause of death and survival trends over time. Methods and results: We analysed UK primary care data for 26 725 women and 29 234 men over age 45 years with a new diagnosis of heart failure between 1 January 2000 and 31 December 2017 using the Clinical Practice Research Datalink, inpatient Hospital Episode Statistics and the Office for National Statistics death registry. Age-specific overall survival and cause-specific mortality rates were calculated by gender and year. During the study period 15 084 women and 15 822 men with heart failure died. Women were on average 5 years older at diagnosis (79.6 vs. 74.8 years). Median survival was lower in women compared to men (3.99 vs. 4.47 years), but women had a 14% age-adjusted lower risk of all-cause mortality [hazard ratio (HR) 0.86, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.84–0.88]. Heart failure was equally likely to be cause of death in women and men (HR 1.03, 95% CI 0.96–1.12). There were modest improvements in survival for both genders, but these were greater in men. The reduction in mortality risk in women was greatest for those diagnosed in the community (HR 0.83, 95% CI 0.80–0.85). Conclusions: Women are diagnosed with heart failure older than men but have a better age-adjusted prognosis. Survival gains were less in women over the last two decades. Addressing gender differences in heart failure diagnostic and treatment pathways should be a clinical and research priority.

Original publication

DOI

10.1002/ejhf.1996

Type

Journal article

Journal

European Journal of Heart Failure

Publication Date

01/01/2020