Sex Differences in Heart Failure Following Acute Coronary Syndromes

There have been conflicting reports regarding outcomes in women presenting with an acute coronary syndrome (ACS).

The objective of the study was to examine sex-specific differences in 30-day mortality in patients with ACS and acute heart failure (HF) at the time of presentation.

This was a retrospective study of patients included in the International Survey of Acute Coronary Syndromes-ARCHIVES (ISACS-ARCHIVES; NCT04008173). Acute HF was defined as Killip classes ≥2. Participants were stratified according to ACS presentation: ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) and non-ST-segment elevation ACS (NSTE-ACS). Differences in 30-day mortality and acute HF presentation at admission between sexes were examined using inverse propensity weighting based on the propensity score. Estimates were compared by test of interaction on the log scale.

A total of 87,812 patients were included, of whom 30,922 (35.2%) were women. Mortality was higher in women compared with men in those presenting with STEMI (risk ratio [RR]: 1.65; 95% CI: 1.56-1.73) and NSTE-ACS (RR: 1.18; 95% CI: 1.09-1.28; P _interaction <0.001). Acute HF was more common in women when compared to men with STEMI (RR: 1.24; 95% CI: 1.20-1.29) but not in those with NSTE-ACS (RR: 1.02; 95% CI: 0.97-1.08) (P _interaction <0.001). The presence of acute HF increased the risk of mortality for both sexes (odds ratio: 6.60; 95% CI: 6.25-6.98).

In patients presenting with ACS, mortality is higher in women. The presence of acute HF at hospital presentation increases the risk of mortality in both sexes. Women with STEMI are more likely to present with acute HF and this may, in part, explain sex differences in mortality. These findings may be helpful to improve sex-specific personalized risk stratification.