Key result
Patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension in Latin America are significantly younger (mean age 47 vs 57 years) and have fewer comorbidities compared to those in European and US registries.
Why the study?
While PAH epidemiology has shifted to older patients with comorbidities, Latin American registries report younger patients with fewer comorbidities, raising questions about potential phenotypic differences or emerging epidemiological shifts.
PAH patients in Latin America present a distinct clinical phenotype characterized by younger age and fewer comorbidities compared to US and European populations, highlighting the need for regional registries and inclusive clinical trials.
Trial populations may underrepresent real-world PAH patients with comorbidities; leaves open need for inclusive, region-specific trials.
Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) has been classically described as a disease in young adults, predominantly females with no comorbidities. However, in recent registries, the epidemiology has changed to older patients with comorbidities such as obesity, diabetes, systemic hypertension, and coronary heart disease. Nevertheless, there is not enough inclusion of these patients in clinical trials. In contrast, in Latin America, registries have shown that PAH patients are younger and have fewer comorbidities, which raises the question of whether Latin American patients present a different phenotype or if we are lagging behind developed countries and whether we will experience a change in epidemiology in the next couple of years. We analyzed these trends in this review.
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Pulido et al. (2025) conducted a review in Pulmonary arterial hypertension (n=5,558). Latin American residence vs. European and US residence was evaluated. Patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension in Latin America are significantly younger (mean age 47 vs 57 years) and have fewer comorbidities compared to those in European and US registries.
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