Survival trends in men and women with heart failure of ischaemic and non-ischaemic origin: data for the period 1987-2003 from the Swedish Hospital Discharge Registry.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate gender-specific trends in long-term mortality in patients hospitalized for heart failure (HF).


RESULTS
The Swedish hospital discharge and cause-specific death registers were used to calculate age- and gender-specific trends for long-term prognosis in patients hospitalized with a principal diagnosis of HF from 1987 to 2003. Mortality decreased, mainly during 1987-95, with no further decrease after 2001. Survival in men improved more than in women (P-value for interaction 0.0003), particularly among patients aged <65 years (P-value for interaction: age, gender, and year of hospitalization 0.0003) and more for patients with ischaemic when compared with non-ischaemic HF (P-value for interaction <0.0001). Among men <65 years, the hazard ratio (HR) of dying within 3 years after discharge was 0.40 (95% confidence interval 0.36-0.45) during 1999-2001 when compared with 1987-89. The corresponding HR for women was 0.58 (0.48-0.69). For those discharged during 1999-2001, almost 20% of the patients aged 35-64 years and 40% of those aged 65-84 years died within 3 years.


CONCLUSIONS
Long-term mortality in HF in Sweden decreased more for men than for women and more for ischaemic than non-ischaemic HF. There was no further decrease after 2001. Long-term mortality after a first hospitalization remained high.
Shafazand
Masoud
M
Department of Emergency and Cardiovascular Medicine, Sahlgrenska Academy, Sahlgrenska University Hospital/Ostra, University of Gothenburg, S-416 85 Göteborg, Sweden.
Schaufelberger
Maria
M
Lappas
Georgios
G
Swedberg
Karl
K
Rosengren
Annika
A
D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000401:mortality*; D017052:Hospital Mortality / Q000639:trends; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017202:Myocardial Ischemia / Q000401:mortality*; D011379:Prognosis; D017678:Sex Distribution; D012737:Sex Factors; D016019:Survival Analysis; D013548:Sweden / Q000453:epidemiology