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

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.

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

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.

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.

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.