TY - JOUR T1 - Gender differences in the long-term outcomes after valve replacement surgery JF - Heart JO - Heart SP - 318 LP - 326 DO - 10.1136/hrt.2008.146688 VL - 95 IS - 4 AU - A Kulik AU - B-K Lam AU - F D Rubens AU - P J Hendry AU - R G Masters AU - W Goldstein AU - P Bédard AU - T G Mesana AU - M Ruel Y1 - 2009/02/01 UR - http://heart.bmj.com/content/95/4/318.abstract N2 - Objective: To compare the long-term outcomes in women and men after valve replacement surgery.Design: Observational study.Setting: Postoperative aortic valve replacement (AVR) or mitral valve replacement (MVR).Patients: 3118 patients (1261 women, 1857 men) who underwent AVR or MVR between 1976 and 2006 (2255 AVR, 863 MVR), with mean follow-up of 5.6 (4.5) years.Main outcome measures: The independent effect of gender on the risk of long-term complications (reoperation, stroke and death) after valve replacement surgery using multivariate actuarial methods.Results: After implantation of an aortic valve bioprosthesis, women had a significantly lower rate of reoperation compared to men (comorbidity-adjusted hazard ratio (HR) 0.4; 95% confidence intervals (CI) 0.2 to 0.9). In contrast, if an aortic mechanical prosthesis had been implanted, women were more at risk for late stroke compared to men (HR 1.7; CI 1.1 to 2.7). After adjustment for age and co-morbidities, women had significantly better long-term survival compared to men after bioprosthetic AVR (HR 0.5; CI 0.3 to 0.6), but there was no survival difference between genders after mechanical AVR. Trends existed towards better survival for women after bioprosthetic MVR (HR 0.6; CI 0.4 to 1.0) and mechanical MVR (HR 0.8; CI 0.5 to 1.1).Conclusion: The long-term outcomes after valve replacement surgery differ between women and men. Although women have more late strokes after valve replacement, they undergo fewer reoperations and have better overall long-term survival compared to men. ER -