Key result
Male sex is linked to ~70% higher heart failure prevalence compared to female sex.
Why the study?
Prior studies reported differences in clinical profiles between men and women with heart failure, prompting an exploration of gender disparities in heart failure prevalence across age, multimorbidity, and socioeconomic status.
Does male gender increase the prevalence of heart failure in adults compared to female gender?
Cross-Sectional (n=981,383)
Does male gender increase the prevalence of heart failure in adults compared to female gender?
Men have a higher prevalence of heart failure than women, which increases with age and multimorbidity, though socioeconomic deprivation is more strongly associated with heart failure in women.
Answers are grounded in this paper and cite their sources.
May support sex-stratified HF risk assessment in primary care; leaves open causal and socioeconomic mechanisms pending prospective data.
OBJECTIVE: Prior studies have reported that heart failure typically affects elderly, multimorbid and socioeconomically deprived men. Women with heart failure are generally older, have a higher EF (ejection fraction) and have more heart failure-related symptoms than men. This study explored the disparities in the prevalence of heart failure between men and women in relation to age, multimorbidity level and socioeconomic status of the population in southern Sweden. DESIGN: Prevalence and mean probability of having heart failure in both genders. CNI (Care Need Index) percentiles depend on the socioeconomic status of their listed primary healthcare centres. RESULTS: Men had a higher OR for HF - 1.70 (95% CI 1.65-1.75) - than women. The probability of men having heart failure increased significantly compared to women with advancing age and multimorbidity levels. At all CNI levels, the multimorbid patients had a higher prevalence of heart failure in men than in women. The disparity in the mean probability of heart failure between the most affluent and deprived CNI percentile was more apparent in women compared to men, especially from 80 years. CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of heart failure differs significantly between the genders. Men had an increasing mean probability of heart failure with advancing age and multimorbidity level compared to women. Socioeconomic deprivation was more strongly associated with heart failure in women than in men. The probability of having heart failure differs between the genders in several aspects.Key PointsIndependently of socioeconomic status, men had a higher prevalence of heart failure than women among the multimorbid patients.The mean probability of men having heart failure increased significantly compared to women with advancing age and multimorbidity level.Socioeconomic status was more strongly associated with heart failure in women than in men.
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Scholten et al. (2023) conducted a cross-sectional in Heart failure (n=981,383). Male gender vs. Female gender was evaluated on Prevalence of heart failure (OR 1.70, 95% CI 1.65-1.75). Male gender was associated with a higher prevalence of heart failure compared to female gender (OR 1.70, 95% CI 1.65-1.75), with the probability increasing significantly with advancing age and multimorbidity.
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