Do ICDs Work Better for Men Than for Women?

Implantable cardioverter-defibrillators for preventing sudden cardiac death had no effect on all-cause mortality in women with advanced heart failure.

Although women constitute a minority of participants in most clinical trials on treatments for cardiovascular disease — and few such studies are sufficiently powered to address sex-specific outcomes — benefits are usually assumed to apply equally to men and women. In a meta-analysis of five randomized controlled trials of implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (ICDs) for prevention of sudden cardiac death (SCD) in patients with heart failure, researchers asked whether survival benefits conferred by these devices in men also extend to women.

In a pooled population of 934 women and 3810 men, investigators compared outcomes of ICDs versus medical therapy in patients with low left ventricular ejection fraction with or without histories of arrhy…

Reviewing Author

JoAnne M. Foody, MD

Disclosures

Consultant / Advisory boardAegerion; Amarin; Bristol-Myers Squibb; Janssen; Merck; Pfizer; Sanofi-Aventis; Boehringer Ingelheim

Leadership positions in professional societiesAmerican College of Cardiology, Cardiosmart (Co-chair)

JoAnne M. Foody, MD

Disclosures

Consultant / Advisory boardAegerion; Amarin; Bristol-Myers Squibb; Janssen; Merck; Pfizer; Sanofi-Aventis; Boehringer Ingelheim

Leadership positions in professional societiesAmerican College of Cardiology, Cardiosmart (Co-chair)