More men than women receive heart device therapy

AORN Journal, Jan, 2006

Women with heart failure are Less Likely than men to receive cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT), but women who receive CRT Live longer than men who receive it, according to a Nov 15, 2005, news release from the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn. Researchers reviewed the cases of all patients who underwent CRT device implantation at the Mayo Clinic between 1999 and 2004 to determine gender-specific referrals and evaluate how the patients fared with the therapy. Of the 373 patients included, 82% were male. According La the researchers, the data indicate a potentially important gender bias, in that fewer women who are eligible for treatment are being referred for CRT compared to a similar group of men.

The average age at device implantation was 69 years for men and 65 years for women. Device implantation success, complication rates, and heart function improvement were similar in men and women. In terms of tong-term survival, however, benefit of CRT was significantly better in women. Survival rates at five years for women (ie, 76%) were almost double that of the men (ie, 46%).

Women Less Likely to Receive Heart Device Therapy but Survive With It Longer Than Men (news release, Dallas, Tx: Mayo Clinic, Nov 15, 2005) http://www.mayoclinic .org/news2005-rst/3119.html (accessed 29 Nov 2005).