Heart failure is a serious condition that occurs when the heart is unable to pump enough blood to the body. It has been declared a worldwide epidemic and has a growing cost on the healthcare system as well as a high mortality rate. One of the most common types of heart failure is called heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF), and in this case, the heart pumps blood relatively well but its muscles cannot relax to allow enough blood to flow through the body.
HFpEF itself is not a uniform condition as many factors can influence a patient’s outcomes, one of which is variances in disease progression for different sexes. In a review published recently in the Canadian Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology, CVC researchers provide an overview of the insights available from the literature concerning the differences in HFpEF development in males and females.
The authors explain that current data show that females have a higher prevalence of HFpEF, but the disease progression pathway and the risk associated with developing HFpEF in females compared to males are still poorly understood. Common risk factors for HFpEF development, such as hypertension and obesity, may be more common in female patients with HFpEF, and females can experience damage due to diabetes earlier than males. Despite higher rates of HFpEF in females, males are more likely to experience death or hospitalization due to HFpEF. Furthermore, while female participation in clinical trials for cardiovascular diseases is low, in HFpEF trials females generally have a higher level of participation, and treatments have typically shown similar outcomes in males and females.
The authors highlight that the current knowledge about the differences between the progression of HFpEF in males and females is not sufficient, and more research must be done to develop better models for determining the risk of negative outcomes of HFpEF in patients of different sexes. The authors also encourage more trials to evaluate the impact of sex-specific differences on treatment group outcomes.
This research was undertaken by Yuliia Smereka, a MSc student with the CVC Scholar Program, and Justin Ezekowitz, MBBCh, MSc.
