Heart Failure in Women Worse Than Men

The effect of diabetes on the severity of illness and risk of death for patients with heart failure is worse in women than in men, a U.S. study has found.

The effect is even more pronounced in older patients, according to findings published online in the journal Heart.

Our results suggest that heart failure patients should be thoroughly evaluated for the presence of diabetes and if it is present, should be intensively managed based on published guidelines, Dr. Ali Ahmed, director of the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s Geriatric Heart Failure Clinic, said in a statement.

Further studies should test current interventions and develop new ones to reduce the adverse effects of diabetes in heart failure patients in general, and among older adults in particular.