The American journal of cardiology
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Multicenter Study Observational Study
Gender Differences in Anemia and Survival in Patients Hospitalized for Acute Decompensated Heart Failure With Preserved or Reduced Ejection Fraction.
In patients with acute decompensated heart failure (HF), the influence of gender on anemia, left ventricular ejection fraction (EF), and outcomes is unclear. We evaluated the association of anemia and left ventricular EF with survival in men or women hospitalized for acute decompensated HF. Of the 4,842 patients enrolled in the Acute Decompensated Heart Failure Syndromes registry, 4,215 patients (2,450 men and 1,765 women) discharged alive after hospitalization for acute decompensated HF were enrolled to evaluate the association of gender, anemia (hemoglobin <13.0 g/dl for men and <12.0 g/dl for women) at discharge, and a preserved or reduced EF with all-cause death or cardiac death after discharge. ⋯ Conversely, anemia was an independent predictor of all-cause death in women with a preserved EF but not in women with a reduced EF. With respect to cardiac death, multivariable analyses revealed highly similar trends as those for all-cause death in patients of both genders. In conclusion, in acute decompensated patients with HF with a preserved or reduced EF, there were marked differences between men and women with respect to the association of anemia and left ventricular EF with survival.
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The unique, unphysiological Fontan circulation is associated with an impaired functional status of the patients that is suggested to deteriorate over time. Unfortunately, previous studies did not integrate both pulmonary and cardiac determinants of functional status. In addition, a comparison with the natural decrease in exercise capacity in healthy subjects (in both children and adults) is lacking. ⋯ In multivariate analyses, peak VO2(pred) was independently associated with maximum heart rate, oxygen pulse at peak exercise, and forced expiratory volume in 1 second (R2 = 0.579) but not with cardiac output in rest. In conclusion, the present data suggest that functional status in Fontan patients is impaired already shortly after Fontan completion, whereas its subsequent deterioration seems to follow the natural decline of aging. Furthermore, functional status in Fontan patients correlates with pulmonary function and cardiac functional parameters during exercise but not with conventional cardiac measurements at rest.