Heart failure in women presents with unique features compared to men, including later onset, higher likelihood of preserved ejection fraction, and female-specific risk factors.
Heart failure in women presents with unique risk factors, a higher prevalence of HFpEF, and distinct outcomes, highlighting the need for increased representation in clinical trials to understand sex-specific pathophysiology and treatment efficacy.
Heart failure (HF) is a significant and growing public health challenge for women. Compared with men, women tend to develop HF later in life and are more likely to experience HF with preserved ejection fraction. There are also significant sex differences in outcomes, with women reporting lower quality of life but overall better survival versus men. In this review, we summarize sex differences in traditional HF risk factors, such as hypertension, diabetes, obesity and coronary artery disease, as well as female-specific HF risk factors including menopause, pregnancy and adverse pregnancy outcomes, and breast cancer therapy. While our understanding of the sex-specific efficacy of HF therapy remains limited by the underrepresentation of women in major clinical trials, there is a suggestion of preferential benefit of specific agents for women. Further work is required to better understand the pathophysiology of HF in women uniquely and to increase representation of women in clinical trials.
Spacht et al. (Thu,) conducted a review in Heart failure. Heart failure in women presents with unique features compared to men, including later onset, higher likelihood of preserved ejection fraction, and female-specific risk factors.