Sex-Associated Differences in Clinical Outcomes After Septal Reduction Therapies in Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy

Mayo Clin Proc. 2024 Nov 12:S0025-6196(24)00274-X. doi: 10.1016/j.mayocp.2024.05.026. Online ahead of print.

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate sex-associated differences in the short- and long-term outcomes of patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) undergoing septal myectomy and alcohol septal ablation.

Methods: This retrospective cohort study used electronic health record data from the TriNetX research database. International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision and Tenth Revision diagnosis and procedure codes were used to identify patients with HCM who underwent septal myectomy and alcohol septal ablation in the United States between January 2002 and March 2023. The outcomes were long-term mortality and postprocedural complications (<30 days), including death, stroke, major bleeding, and renal failure. Multivariable adjusted Cox models were used to assess the association of outcomes by sex, taking female patients as reference.

Results: Of 11,680 adults (32.0% female; median age, 63 [interquartile range, 54 to 71] years), 1916 (16.4%) and 9764 (83.6%) underwent septal myectomy and alcohol septal ablation, respectively. For those who underwent septal myectomy, sex was not associated with short-term (adjusted hazard ratio [HRadj], 1.57 [0.64 to 3.87]) and long-term (HRadj, 1.05 [0.87 to 1.26]) mortality. Male patients had a higher risk of acute renal failure compared with female patients after septal myectomy (HRadj, 1.69 [1.33 to 2.15]). Of those who underwent alcohol septal ablation, male patients (HRadj, 1.07 [0.99 to 1.16]) had a similar risk of long-term mortality to that of female patients. Compared with female patients, the risk of acute renal failure was higher in male patients (HRadj, 1.23 [1.02 to 1.48]) after alcohol septal ablation.

Conclusion: This nationwide study found that the risk of short- and long-term mortality was similar for male and female patients undergoing septal myectomy and alcohol septal ablation for HCM. The sex-based differences in the clinical presentation should not prevent consideration of septal reduction therapies.