How do disease presentation, progression, and outcomes differ between men and women with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy?
Women with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy experience a more severe clinical course with higher heart failure and mortality risks compared to men, highlighting the need for sex-disaggregated research and potentially tailored management.
Women account for approximately one-third of patients in specialist HCM centres and reported in observational studies. As a result, evidence informing clinical guideline recommendations is based predominantly on risk factors and outcomes seen in men. However, disease progression appears to be different between the sexes. Women present at a more advanced stage of disease, are older at diagnosis, have higher symptom burden, carry greater risk for heart failure and are at greater risk of mortality compared to men. Women are more likely to be gene-positive, while men are more likely to be gene-negative. The risk of sudden cardiac death and access to specialised care do not differ between the sexes. Reporting sex-disaggregated results is essential to identify the mechanisms leading to sex differences in HCM.
Butters et al. (Fri,) studied this question.
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