Psychological gender of men with systolic heart failure: a neglected strategy to cope with the disease?

Diminished exercise capacity is a fundamental symptom of heart failure (HF), which is particularly disadvantageous for men for whom exercise capacity contributes significantly to their gender identity, self-esteem, and quality of life. In this study, we aimed to examine whether psychological gender would be different in men with systolic HF as compared with their healthy peers. The authors examined 48 men with systolic HF (age = 64 ± 10 years; body mass index = 28.