Gender and risk of adverse outcomes in heart failure.

Congestive heart failure (CHF) is the leading cause of hospitalization in the elderly, and these patients are at high risk for subsequent hospitalization. Whether gender affects the risk of rehospitalization in patients who have CHF is less well understood. We studied a random sample of 1,700 adults who had been hospitalized with CHF (from July 1, 1999 to June 30, 2000) and identified all readmissions through June 30, 2001. We used proportional hazards regression to evaluate whether gender affects the risk of all-cause and CHF-specific rehospitalization, after adjusting for differences in demographic characteristics, health-related behaviors, co-morbid conditions, left ventricular systolic function status, and use of CHF therapies. Among 1,591 adults who had confirmed CHF, 752 were women (47.3%). Women were older than men (73 vs 71 years, p