For Defibrillators, Gender May Not Matter

When it comes to one type of heart failure treatment, new evidence suggests a gender gap may still exist.

A new study indicates that women with heart failure may benefit from implantable cardiac defibrillators (ICDs) just as much as men. Although current guidelines recommend doctors prescribe ICDs to both men and women with heart failure, researchers say women receive them less often.

ICDs are small, electronic devices implanted under the skin of the chest. These devices are designed to shock a patient’s heart back to a regular rhythm should it beat irregularly.

Past studies have suggested that heart failure patients with ICDs live longer than those without — although, until now, the majority of patients enrolled in these studies has been men.

For this study, researchers used data from 264 hospitals who participated in the Get With The Guidelines-Heart Failure Registry to look at 430 women and 859 men with ICDs. These patients were then compared to the same number of men and women without ICDs. All had an impaired ability to pump blood from the heart.

After three years, 40.2 percent of the women with ICDs had died — compared to 48.7 percent of the women without the devices. In men, 42.9 percent with ICDs died — compared to 52.9 percent without ICDs.

In other words, both sexes’ chance of living increased by roughly 10 percent with ICDs.

"Currently, many eligible patients with heart failure are not referred to physicians who can implant the devices," said lead study author Emily P. Zeitler, MD, in a press release. "If you have heart failure, ask your doctor whether you might benefit from an ICD in addition to your other therapy."

Dr. Zeitler is a cardiology and research fellow at Duke University Clinical Research Institute.

She added that she would encourage both patients and doctors to "enthusiastically pursue good research" by participating in new trials, as research is less clear when women and other groups are left out.

This study was published Jan. 12 in the journal Circulation: Heart Failure.

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality and the National Institutes of Health funded this research. No conflicts of interest were disclosed.