Sex Differences in the Long-term Prognosis of Dilated Cardiomyopathy

Background: Dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) represents a specific phenotype of heart failure. Sex differences in the long-term prognosis of patients with DCM are unknown. The aim of this study is to investigate the long-term prognostic role of gender in a large cohort of patients with DCM. Methods: A total of 1113 patients with DCM were prospectively enrolled. To investigate the impact of sex, a propensity score- matching analysis was performed on a sample of 586 patients. Uni-variable and multivariable Cox models and competing-risk analyses were estimated on both cohorts for the following outcome measures: (1) all-cause mortality/heart transplantation (HTx)/ventricular assist device (VAD); (2) cardiovascular mortality/HTx/VAD; and (3) sudden cardiac death or malignant ventricular arrhythmias. Results: Women were older than men (50 +/- 15 years vs 47 +/- 15 years, respectively, P = 0.004) and more frequently had moderate to severe left ventricular dilation (P < 0.001) and left bundle branch block (P = 0.019). At multivariable analyses, male sex was independently associated with all considered outcome measures in the total cohort. At propensity score-matching analysis, over a median follow-up of 126 months (interquartile range, 62-201), 96 men (33%) vs 66 women (22%) experienced all-cause mortality/HTx/VAD (P = 0.03), 95 men (32%) vs 57 women (20%) experienced cardiovascular mortality/HTx/VAD (P = 0.025), and 46 men (16%) vs 28 women (10%) experienced sudden cardiac death/malignant ventricular arrhythmias (P = 0.07). Conclusion: The long-term outcomes of women affected by DCM are more favourable than those of men, and sex emerged as an important independent factor, particularly for cardiovascular outcomes.