Diastolic dysfunction in patients undergoing cardiac surgery: the role of gender and age-gender interaction.

Objectives: To test the hypothesis that females presenting for coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery are at a higher risk of left ventricular diastolic dysfunction (LVDD) and that age and gender interact to influence this risk.

Design: Retrospective observational study.

Setting: Tertiary university hospital.

Participants: Eight hundred-ninety-five adult patients undergoing CABG surgery.

Interventions: None.

Measurements And Main Results: Baseline diastolic function was graded according to a predefined Doppler-based algorithm, which defined LVDD as a binary variable (grades 2 and 3 only) and as a continuous variable (E/e' ratio). The authors found that women were more likely to present with LVDD in 2 multivariate regression models using both LVDD definitions (odds ratio = 2.7; p<0.0001 for logistic model, and parameter estimate (PE) = 2.8; p<0.0001 for the linear model). In addition, there was a significant age and gender interaction on the risk of LVDD in the linear model (PE = 0.08; p = 0.01). A restricted cubic splines analysis revealed a progressively higher risk of LVDD (predicted E/e' ratio) among older women.

Conclusions: The authors confirmed that women undergoing CABG surgery are at higher risk of LVDD compared to men with a significant age-gender interaction suggesting a possible age-related differential effect on LVDD between the genders, a phenomenon previously demonstrated in preclinical studies. Therapies aimed at amelioration of diastolic dysfunction additionally should consider the higher risk in females, especially within the older subset of the patient population.