An interdisciplinary study involving eight University of Cincinnati College of Medicine experts has found significant sex differences in cardiovascular outcomes in patients with kidney failure. The study's lead author will receive an international award for her work, which was published in the Journal of the American Heart Association . In one of the largest studies of its kind, researchers analyzed data from more than 500,000 patients undergoing dialysis in the United States and found that women have a higher risk of heart failure and stroke than men.
However, women have a lower overall risk of cardiovascular death and death from all causes. "To the best of our knowledge, it's the first time these findings of a higher risk of cardiovascular events in women than men among those with kidney failure who are on dialysis have been reported in literature," said Silvi Shah, MD, MS, FASN, FACP, an associate professor in UC's Division of Nephrology and Hypertension in the Department of Internal Medicine and the study's principal investigator. Researchers found women undergoing dialysis have a 14% higher risk of cardiovascular events, including a 16% higher risk of heart attack and a 31% higher risk of stroke than men.
As for why, Shah and her collaborators have a number of theories. One is the role of estrogen. It's known that its protective properties decline in women undergoing dialysis, as they typically enter menopause years earlier than their healthy counterparts.
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