RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 Gender-specific differences in clinical outcome of primary prevention implantable cardioverter defibrillator recipients JF Heart JO Heart FD BMJ Publishing Group Ltd and British Cardiovascular Society SP 1244 OP 1249 DO 10.1136/heartjnl-2013-304013 VO 99 IS 17 A1 Aafke C van der Heijden A1 Joep Thijssen A1 C Jan Willem Borleffs A1 Johannes B van Rees A1 Ulas Höke A1 Enno T van der Velde A1 Lieselot van Erven A1 Martin J Schalij YR 2013 UL http://heart.bmj.com/content/99/17/1244.abstract AB Objective To assess differences in clinical outcome of implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) treatment in men and women. Design Prospective cohort study. Setting University Medical Center. Patients 1946 primary prevention ICD recipients (1528 (79%) men and 418 (21%) women). Patients with congenital heart disease were excluded for this analysis. Main outcome measures All-cause mortality, ICD therapy (antitachycardia pacing and shock) and ICD shock. Results During a median follow-up of 3.3 years (25th–75th percentile 1.4–5.4), 387 (25%) men and 76 (18%) women died. The estimated 5-year cumulative incidence for all-cause mortality was 20% (95% CI 18% to 23%) for men and 14% (95% CI 9% to 19%) for women (log rank p<0.01). After adjustment for potential confounding covariates all-cause mortality was lower in women (HR 0.65; 95% CI 0.49 to 0.84; p<0.01). The 5-year cumulative incidence for appropriate therapy in men was 24% (95% CI 21% to 28%) as compared with 20% (95% CI 14% to 26%) in women (log rank p=0.07). After adjustment, a non-significant trend remained (HR 0.82; 95% CI 0.64 to 1.06; p=0.13). Conclusions In clinical practice, 21% of primary prevention ICD recipients are women. Women have lower mortality and tend to experience less appropriate ICD therapy as compared with their male peers.