Are Physical and Depressive Symptoms Different Between Women and Men With Heart Failure?: An Exploration Using Two Analytic Techniques.
Mary C Roberts Davis, Nathan F Dieckmann, Lissi Hansen and 4 others
PMID 37639560WHAT IT FOUND
Women and men with heart failure showed no clear difference in physical or depressive symptoms after matching on age, body mass index, diabetes, and heart failure features.
Four symptom patterns emerged, and gender did not predict which pattern.
Key findings
01In the matched comparison, women reported lower symptom scores than men, but the difference was not statistically significant.
02Four symptom patterns were identified, and gender was not significantly different between them.
03Gender was not a significant predictor of symptom pattern membership; age and NYHA class III or IV were common predictors.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
This was a secondary analysis of baseline observational data, not a randomised trial. It cannot establish cause or prove that gender has no effect. The matched analysis used 183 pairs from 524 participants, and the authors noted that matching quality may have been affected by low numbers in some categories. Participants self-reported gender, and the studies did not specify biologic sex. The findings are about gender rather than sex differences. Only symptom measures common to all six studies were used, and the authors state these measures have not been adequately validated in gender-balanced studies. The sample was described as relatively young, from one academic medical center, and included people at different heart failure stages and care settings.
Declared interests
No funding or conflict-of-interest statement is shown in the supplied article text; the publication types list NIH extramural and non-U.S. government research support.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that women have worse heart failure symptoms; the matched comparison found lower scores but no statistically significant difference. Do not conclude that gender makes symptoms unimportant; the study still showed different symptom patterns by age and heart failure severity.