Study: Hearts Age Differently in Men and Women

Using cardiac MRI, researchers found that the left ventricle (LV)—the heart’s main pumping chamber—ages differently in men vs. women. This discovery may lead to gender-specific approaches to patients with heart disease, according to a new study.

In their study, researchers identified longitudinal changes in LV structure and function in 2935 participants (53% women) who underwent baseline and follow-up imaging in the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis. The subjects—all without cardiovascular disease at baseline—ranged between 54 and 94 years old at follow-up. The median time between the 2 tests was 9.4 years. (Most previous studies on LV mass have been cross-sectional and based on comparisons between young and old patients, which does not take into account different lifestyles and other historical factors.)
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In a surprising finding, the LV mass increased in men and decreased slightly in women (8.0 g and -1.6 g per decade, respectively; P < .001).

However, for both genders, LV end-diastolic volume decreased (-9.8 mL and -13.3 mL per decade, respectively; P < .001), stroke volume decreased (-8.8 mL and -8.6 mL per decade, respectively; P < .001), and mass-to-volume ratio increased (0.14 g/mL and 0.11 g/mL per decade, respectively; P < .001).

The researchers said further study will be needed to determine why the difference in LV mass occurs, but this may be an opportunity for personalized medicine, with men and women requiring different treatment options for heart failure. These results, though, did stress the need for keeping diet and blood pressure in check.

“Change in LV mass was positively associated with systolic blood pressure and body mass index and negatively associated with treated hypertension and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol level,” they concluded.

-Mike Bederka

Reference:

Eng J, McClelland RL, Gomes AS, Hundley WG, Cheng S, Wu CO, Carr JJ, Shea S, Bluemke DA, Lima JA. Adverse left ventricular remodeling and age assessed with cardiac MR imaging: The Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis. Radiology. 2015 October [epub ahead of print] doi: 10.1148/radiol.2015150982.