Abstract
Objectives: This study quantitatively synthesized literature to identify gender differences in the prevalence of frailty in heart failure (HF). Background: The intersection of frailty and HF continues to garner interest. Almost half of patients with HF are frail; however, gender differences in frailty in HF are poorly understood. Methods: We performed a literature search to identify studies that reported prevalence of frailty by gender in HF. Random-effects meta-analysis was used to quantify the relative and absolute risk of frailty in women compared with men with HF, overall, and by Physical and Multidimensional Frailty measures. Meta-regression was performed to examine the influence of study age and functional class on relative risk in HF. Results: Twenty-nine studies involving 8854 adults with HF were included. Overall in HF, women had a 26% higher relative risk of being frail compared with men (95% CI = 1.14–1.38, z = 4.69, p < 0.001, I2 = 76.5%). The overall absolute risk for women compared to men with HF being frail was 10% (95% CI = 0.06–0.15, z = 4.41, p < 0.001). The relative risk of frailty was slightly higher among studies that used Physical measures (relative risk = 1.27, p < 0.001) compared with studies that used Multidimensional measures (relative risk = 1.24, p = 0.024). There were no significant relationships between relative risk and either study age or functional class. Conclusions: In HF, frailty affects women significantly more than men. Future work should focus on elucidating potential causes of gender differences in frailty in HF.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 133-140 |
Number of pages | 8 |
Journal | International Journal of Cardiology |
Volume | 333 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Jun 15 2021 |
Keywords
- Aging
- Frailty
- Gender
- Heart failure
- Meta-analysis
- Systematic review
- Women
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine