Key Takeaways

• Women on dialysis have a higher risk of heart failure and stroke than men do

• Lower levels of estrogen and inconsistent treatment could be the cause

• However, women are less likely than men to die from heart-related health problems

FRIDAY, Nov. 8, 2024 (HealthDay News) — Women have a higher risk of heart failure and stroke than men while undergoing dialysis for kidney failure, a new study shows.

However, women also have a lower overall risk of dying than men, researchers found.

The bottom line: “Women have to be treated differently when it comes to their heart health,” said lead researcher Dr. Silvi Shah, an associate professor of nephrology and hypertension at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine.

“The study revealed significant sex differences in cardiovascular health,” Shah added in a university news release. “These disparities between the sexes and disparities in care point to the need for more personalized heart care for women.”

For the study, researchers tracked the health of more than 508,000 U.S. kidney disease patients who started dialysis between 2005 and 2014.

What did they find? Women undergoing dialysis had a 14% higher risk of heart-related health problems than men, including a 16% higher risk of heart attack and a 31% higher risk of stroke.

“To the best of our knowledge, it’s the first time these findings of a higher risk of cardiovascular events in women than men among those with kidney failure who are on dialysis have been reported in literature,” Shah said.

However, women on dialysis also had an 11% lower risk of dying from heart-related causes than men, and a 4% lower risk of death from any cause.

Estrogen might play a role in women’s higher overall risk of heart problems, researchers said.

The protective effects from the female hormone decline among women undergoing dialysis, Shah said. For example, they typically enter menopause years earlier than women without kidney problems.

“Women also tend to receive less preventative kidney care, which can lead to the need for dialysis in the first place,” Shah said. “And women who suffer strokes tend to receive less care for them.”

Women with kidney failure also tend to start dialysis later than men, receive fewer hours of dialysis treatment and have higher rates of diabetes, Shah added.

But it remains unclear why women in dialysis have a better survival rate despite suffering heart-related health emergencies more often than men.

“We don’t know the real reason,” Shah said.

The new study was published recently in the Journal of the American Heart Association.

More information

The National Kidney Foundation has more on dialysis.

SOURCE: University of Cincinnati, news release, Nov. 6, 2024

What This Means For You

Women on dialysis should take steps to protect their heart health.