A research team at Seoul National University Boramae Hospital has discovered that female diabetes patients that suffer from heart failure have a higher risk of recurrence and death than male diabetes patients.

Professors Kim Myoung-ah (left) and Kim Hak-ryoung

The team, led by Professors Kim Hak-ryoung and Kim Myoung-ah, analyzed 3,162 patients with heart failure and compared the risk of diabetes-related heart failure by gender. The researchers used the 2004-2009 data from the Korean Heart Failure Registry in their research.

As a result of the study on the characteristics of the patients, 974 persons had diabetes. The prevalence of diabetes divided by gender was 30.5 percent for male and 31.1 percent for female.

The team found no significant difference between male and female groups. However, the study did show that diabetic male patients were older and had higher blood pressure than healthy males, while diabetic females’ left ventricular systolic function was relatively more deteriorated then healthy females.

The researchers also confirmed that the rate of re-admission and death was higher in female diabetic patients who suffered heart failure. In detail, female patients that suffered from heart failure had a re-admission and death ratio of 49.7 percent compared to the male patients’ 46.6 percent.

When calculating the hazard ratio (HR) of re-admission and death from diabetes through multivariate analysis of the effects of confounders, the study found that the risk of exacerbation in women (HR 1.43) was about 1.4 times higher than men (HR 1.07).

“The study showed that the clinical prognosis of diabetic patients with a history of heart failure varied according to gender,” Professor Kim Hak-ryoung said.

Diabetic women with a history of heart failure had additional risk factors, such as the weakened left ventricular systolic function, which is thought to have some influence on the development of additional heart failure cases, he added.

The results of the study were published in the June edition of Diabetic Medicine.

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