Background: The purpose of the study was to examine if there is any gender-based gap in the use of ICDs for primary or secondary prevention in patients with chronic heart failure (HF).
Methods: The data analysis included the records of more than 400 visits during 2.5 years period related to 84 pts (31 females and 53 males) who had multiple daily treatment sessions at Outpatient Clinic-Infusion Center for HF. Primary disorders, co-morbidities, arrhythmias, ejection fraction (EF) and reasons for ICD implantation were evaluated. Patients were followed in order to assess the frequency of re-hospitalizations and their survival.
Results: The study demonstrated that mean age was 68.9±13.4 years without significant difference between gender groups (69.2±13.3 in females vs 68.7±13.5 in males). EF was higher in females than males (41.2±18.6% and 36.5±17.8%, accordingly), however the incidence of reduced systolic function (EF?35%) was similar in both groups. Utilization of ICDs for primary or secondary prevention was significantly higher in males than females despite similar frequency of arrhythmias (including AFib). The rate of re-hospitalizations at 30 days, 6 months and during 12 months period was higher in males, however the mortality during 12 months follow-up was significantly higher in females.
Conclusions: More males had the ICD implanted as compared to females despite similar frequency of cardiac arrhythmias in both gender groups. There is a gender-based gap in the use of ICDs for primary or secondary prevention in patients with chronic heart failure (HF), which requires a better identification of females with HF for timely implantation of ICDs.