Comparison of Long-Term Survival Following Sudden Cardiac Arrest in Men Versus Women

Long-term survival following out-of-hospital cardiac arrest in women and men: Influence of comorbidities, social characteristics, and resuscitation characteristics

AIM

We aimed to study sex differences in long-term survival following out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) compared to the general population, and determined associations for comorbidities, social characteristics, and resuscitation characteristics with survival in women and men separately.

METHODS

We followed 2,452 Danish (530 women and 1,922 men) and 1,255 Dutch (259 women and 996 men) individuals aged ≥25 years, who survived 30 days post-OHCA in 2009-2015, until 2019. Using Poisson regression analyses we assessed sex differences in long-term survival and sex-specific associations of characteristics mutually adjusted, and compared survival with an age- and sex-matched general population. The potential predictive value was assessed with the Concordance-index.

RESULTS

Post-OHCA survival was longer in women than men (adjusted incidence rate ratio (IRR) for mortality 0.74, 95%CI 0.61-0.89 in Denmark; 0.86, 95%CI 0.65-1.15 in the Netherlands). Both sexes had a shorter survival than the general population (e.g., IRR for mortality 3.07, 95%CI 2.55-3.70 and IRR 2.15, 95%CI 1.95-2.37 in Danish women and men). Higher age, glucose lowering medication, no dyslipidaemia medication, unemployment, and a non-shockable initial rhythm were associated with shorter survival in both sexes. Cardiovascular medication, depression/anxiety medication, living alone, low household income, and residential OHCA location were associated with shorter survival in men. Not living with children and bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation provision were associated with shorter survival in women. The Concordance-indexes ranged from 0.51 to 0.63.

CONCLUSIONS

Women survived longer than men post-OHCA. Several characteristics were associated with long-term post-OHCA survival, with some sex-specific characteristics. In both sexes, these characteristics had low predictive potential.

Sex differences in ventricular arrhythmias epidemiology, risk factors, and mortality in congestive heart failure

BACKGROUND

Female patients are underrepresented in randomized controlled clinical trials and registries of ventricular arrhythmia (VA). Personalized prevention and therapies require an understanding of sex differences in risk factors and prognosis of VA.

OBJECTIVE

We aimed to assess sex differences in the incidence, risk factors, and mortality of VA in congestive heart failure (HF) patients.

METHODS

This study included 10,889 patients (mean [SD] age, 73.8 [13.4] years; 5917 [53.8%] male) with congestive HF, of which 1555 (14.3%) patients developed VA during hospitalization. VA incidence, potential risk factors, and in-hospital mortality were evaluated in both sexes.

RESULTS

Men were more strongly associated with incident VA compared with women (odds ratio [OR]: 2.006, 95% CI: 1.790-2.248, p < 0.001). Thirteen potential predictors, which accounted for 91.0% of the risk of VA in men and 88.2% in women, were included in this study. There were significant interactions by sex in the association between incident VA, atrial fibrillation (AF) (relative risk ratio = 0.730, 95% CI: 0.571-0.933, interaction p = 0.012), and non-ischemic cardiomyopathy (NICM) (relative risk ratio = 1.391, 95% CI: 1.029-1.872, interaction p = 0.030). Congestive HF patients developed with VA had an approximately 1.5-fold risk of in-hospital mortality, which was not affected by sex.

CONCLUSIONS

In congestive HF patients, incident VA was an independent risk factor of in-hospital mortality, and male sex was strongly associated with an increased risk of VA. Awareness of sex differences in the association of AF and NICM with VA may enhance therapeutic decisions, thus improving their clinical outcomes.

Impact of sex on clinical, procedural characteristics and outcomes of catheter ablation for ventricular arrhythmias according to underlying heart disease

BACKGROUND

Women are under-represented in many key studies and trials examining outcomes of catheter ablation (CA) for ventricular arrhythmias (VA). We compared characteristics between men and women undergoing their first catheter ablation for VA at a single centre over 10 years.

METHODS

The clinical, procedural characteristics and outcomes of 287 consecutive patients (male = 182, female = 105), undergoing their first CA at our centre over 10 years were compared according to sex and underlying heart disease.

RESULTS

In the ablation population, women were younger, had fewer co-morbidities, were less likely to have ischemic cardiomyopathy (ICM) and VA storm and were more likely to have idiopathic VA and premature ventricular complexes as the indication for ablation (P < 0.05 for all). Amongst idiopathic and non-ischemic cardiomyopathy (NICM) subgroups, baseline characteristics were similar; amongst ICM, women were younger and had higher numbers of drug failure pre-ablation (P = 0.05). Women were similar to men in all procedural characteristics, acute procedural success and complications, regardless of underlying heart disease. At median follow-up of 666 days, VA-free survival, overall mortality and survival free of death or transplant were comparable in both groups. Sex was not a predictor of these outcomes, after accounting for clinical and procedural characteristics.

CONCLUSION

Women represented 36% of the real-world population at our centre referred for CA of VA. There are key differences in clinical features of women versus men referred for VA ablation. Despite these differences, VA ablation in women can be accomplished with similar success and complication rates to men, regardless of underlying heart disease.

Inequality between women and men in ICD implantation

Background

The impact of sex on ICD implantation practice and survival remain a topic of controversy. To assess sex-specific differences in ICD implantation practice we compared clinical characteristics and survival in women and men.

Methods

From a nationwide registry, all new ICD implantations performed between 01/02/2010 and 31/01/2019 in Belgian patients were analyzed retrospectively. Baseline characteristics and survival rates were compared between sexes. To identify predictors of mortality, multivariable Cox regression was performed.

Results

Only 3096 (20.9%) of 14,787 ICD implantations were performed in women. Within each type of underlying cardiomyopathy, the proportion women were lower than men. The main indication in men was ischemic vs dilated cardiomyopathy in women. Women were overall younger (59.1 ± 15.1 vs 62.6 ± 13.1 years; p < 0.001) and had less comorbidities except for oncological disease. More women functioned in NYHA-class III (33.6% vs 27.9%; p < 0.001) and had a QRS > 150 ms (29.4% vs 24.3%; p < 0.001), consistent with a higher use of CRT-D devices (31.7% vs 25.1%; p < 0.001). Women had more complications, reflected by the need to more re-interventions within 1 year (4.3% vs 2.7%, p < 0.001). After correction for covariates, sex-category was not a significant predictor of mortality (p = 0.055).

Conclusion

There is a significant sex-disparity in ICD implantation rates, not fully explained by epidemiological differences in the prevalence of cardiomyopathies, which could imply an undertreatment of women. Women differ from men in baseline characteristics at implantation suggesting a selection bias. Further research is necessary to evaluate if women receive equal sudden cardiac death prevention.

Do Women Have a Higher Mortality Risk Than Men following ICU Admission after Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest? A Retrospective Cohort Analysis

Purpose: previous studies showed that women have a higher mortality risk than men after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA). This sex difference may disappear after adjustment for cardiac arrest characteristics. Most studies also included patients who were not admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU). We analyzed whether sex impacts the mortality of ICU-admitted OHCA patients. Methods: a retrospective cohort analysis of 1240 OHCA patients admitted to the ICU (310 women, 25%, Age_Median 64.0 (IQR 53.8–73.0)) at an academic hospital in the Netherlands between 1 January 2007 and 31 December 2018. The primary outcome was 90-day mortality; the secondary outcome was a favorable cerebral performance category (CPC) score at ICU discharge and ICU length of stay (ICU LOS). Results: we found no association between sex and 90-day mortality (hazard ratio (HR) 0.867; 95% confidence interval (95% CI) 0.678–1.108) after adjusting for relevant cardiac arrest characteristics. Similarly, we found no difference for favorable CPC score (OR 1.117; 95% CI 0.777–1.608) or ICU LOS between sexes (Beta 0.428; 95% CI −0.442 to 1.298). Conclusions: after adjusting for cardiac arrest characteristics, we found no difference between women and men with respect to 90-day mortality, ICU LOS, and CPC score.

Higher 1-year mortality in women admitted to intensive care units after cardiac arrest: A nationwide overview from the Netherlands between 2010 and 2018

PURPOSE

We study sex differences in 1-year mortality of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) and in-hospital cardiac arrest (IHCA) patients admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU).

DATA

A retrospective cohort analysis of OHCA and IHCA patients registered in the NICE registry in the Netherlands. The primary and secondary outcomes were 1-year and hospital mortality, respectively.

RESULTS

We included 19,440 OHCA patients (5977 women, 30.7%) and 13,461 IHCA patients (4889 women, 36.3%). For OHCA, 1-year mortality was 63.9% in women and 52.6% in men (Hazard Ratio [HR] 1.28, 95% Confidence Interval [95% CI] 1.23-1.34). For IHCA, 1-year mortality was 60.0% in women and 57.0% in men (HR 1.09, 95% CI 1.04-1.14). In OHCA, hospital mortality was 57.4% in women and 46.5% in men (Odds Ratio [OR] 1.42, 95% CI 1.33-1.52). In IHCA, hospital mortality was 52.0% in women and 48.2% in men (OR 1.11, 95% CI 1.03-1.20).

CONCLUSION

Women admitted to the ICU after cardiac arrest have a higher mortality rate than men. After left-truncation, we found that this sex difference persisted for OHCA. For IHCA we found that the effect of sex was mainly present in the initial phase after the cardiac arrest.

Gender-specific differences in return-to-spontaneous circulation and outcome after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest: Results of sixteen-year-state-wide initiatives

Aim

Several studies reported a lower proportion of laypeople cardio-pulmonary resuscitation (CPR) in female victims of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA). We aimed to verify how sixteen-years of state-wide initiatives impacted on gender-differences in OHCA treatment and survival.

Methods

All the 2481 consecutive OHCAs of presumed cardiac origin occurred between 2002 and 2018 in the Swiss Ticino Canton and in which a resuscitation was attempted, were included. Emergency medical system (EMS)-witnessed OHCAs were excluded.

Results

Time from call to CPR decreased from 9-min in 2002-2006 to 5-min in 2015-2018 (p < 0.01) and until 2014, it was longer in women. Survival to discharge increased overall from 11% in 2002-2006 to 23% in 2015-2018 (p < 0.001) related to telephone-assisted CPR development (period 2011-2014) and first responder and layperson recruitment via a mobile application (period 2015-2018). In males, survival increased from 12% to 25% (p = 0.001) with a statistically significant increase in odds of survival in 2007-2010 (OR 1.6 95%CI 1.1-2.3; p = 0.001), in 2011-2014 (OR 2 95%CI 1.4-2.8; p = 0.001), and in 2015-2018 (2.4 95%CI 1.7-3.3; p = 0.001) compared to 2002-2006. On the other hand, in females, survival increased from 7% to 18% (p < 0.001), with a corresponding increase in the odds of survival of almost 3 times from 2002-2006 to 2015-2018 time period (OR 2.9 95%CI 1.5-5.8, p = 0.001). No difference in survival probability was observed according to gender when adjusted for age, presenting rhythm, year-groups, OHCA location, EMS arrival time, witnessed status and laypeople-CPR.

Conclusions

State-wide initiatives can significantly increase the chances of survival in both male and female victims of OHCAs, by increasing the probability to receive CPR in a shorter time span.