Peer reviewed article Gender differences in acute congestive heart failure

Background: Little is known about sex differ-ences in baseline characteristics and outcomes in patients with acute congestive heart failure (CHF). Methods and results: This prospective observa-tional study evaluated gender differences among 217 consecutive patients (124 men and 93 women) presenting with acute CHF to the emergency de-partment. The primary endpoint was all-cause mortality. Women were older, and had less pul-monary comorbidity, but more noticeable jugular venous distension, as well as higher diastolic blood pressure and troponin level at presentation. Among contributing causes of acute CHF, my-ocardial ischaemia and anaemia were more fre-quent in women. Adequate medical CHF therap