The usefulness of age and sex to predict all-cause mortality in patients with dilated cardiomyopathy: a single-center cohort study

Xiaoping Li,1–3,* Chi Cai,3,* Rong Luo,4 Rongjian Jiang,1 Jie Zeng,1 Yijia Tang,1 Yang Chen,1 Michael Fu,5 Tao He,1 Wei Hua31Department of Cardiology, Hospital of the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Sichuan Provincial People’s Hospital, Chengdu, Sichuan, 2School of Medicine, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, Sichuan, 3Department of Clinical Electrophysiology, Fuwai Hospital and Cardiovascular Institute, Chinese Academy of Medical Science and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, 4Key Laboratory of Thermoregulation and Inflammation of Sichuan Higher Education Institutes, Chengdu Medical College, Chengdu, Sichuan, People’s Republic of China; 5Department of Medicine, Sahlgrenska University Hospital/Östra Hospital, Gothenburg, Sweden*These authors contributed equally to this workObjective: Recent studies have shown that sex and age are associated with outcomes in patients with cardiomyopathy. The purpose of this study was to determine the all-cause mortality of dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) by age and sex.Methods and results: The patients were divided into non-elderly (age <60 years, n=811) and elderly (age ≥60 years, n=331) groups. No difference in the all-cause mortality rate was observed between elderly and non-elderly patients (27.2% vs 22.2%, log-rank χ2=2.604, P=0.107). Furthermore, no significant difference in mortality was observed between the male and female patients (23.3% vs 24.5%, log-rank χ2=0.707, P=0.400). However, subgroup analysis revealed that elderly male patients exhibited a higher mortality rate than non-elderly male patients (29.4% vs 21.3%, log-rank χ2=5.898, P=0.015), while no difference was observed between the elderly female patients and non-elderly female patients. In the Cox analysis, neither age nor sex was a significant independent predictor of all-cause mortality in patients with DCM.Conclusion: In conclusion, no significant difference in mortality between male and female patients or between the elderly and non-elderly patients was observed. Only among males was a difference in mortality observed; elderly male patients experienced greater mortality than that of non-elderly male patients. No effect of age or sex on all-cause mortality was observed in patients with DCM. Keywords: elderly, sex, dilated cardiomyopathy, prognosi