MADIT-CRT shows women have greater benefit from CRT-D’s

Recently announced results from a sub-analysis of the MADIT-CRT trial data that show that women receive a greater clinical benefit from cardiac resynchronization therapy defibrillators (CRT-Ds) than men. The results were presented during the 17th Cardiostim World Congress by Jonathan Steinberg, M.D., Chief of Cardiology and Director of the Al-Sabah Arrythmia Institute, St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital Center, New York.

The sub-analysis demonstrated that both men and women experienced significant benefit from cardiac resynchronization therapy. However, women experienced a 70 percent reduction in heart failure events compared to a 35 percent reduction for men. Additional analysis demonstrated that women with asymptomatic or mild heart failure experienced a 72 percent reduction in all-cause mortality.

“There are a number of factors that may explain why women experienced a greater benefit than men,” said Arthur Moss, M.D., Professor of Medicine at the University of Rochester Medical Center and Principal Investigator of the MADIT-CRT trial. “CRT-D therapy is designed to improve the heart’s overall pumping ability and women are more likely than men to have non-ischemic heart disease, which typically affects the entire heart rather than a single region and can lead to reduced pumping strength, abnormal heart rhythms and disturbances in the heart’s electrical system. Men are more likely to have ischemic heart disease, also known as coronary artery disease, which often leads to a more localized impact on the heart.”

Results of the MADIT-CRT trial were published in the October 2009 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.