Results:

Of 10,038 patients evaluated for inclusion into the study, 55 patients (5.5%) with NYHA class I or IV heart failure symptoms, 1,084 (10.8%) patients with left ventricular ejection fraction <35%, 130 (1.3%) patients who received a heart transplant, and 30 (0.3%) patients who had an ICD at baseline were excluded, leaving 8,337 patients eligible for analysis, of which 1,685 (20%) were women. Women were older and were less likely to have ischemic heart disease. Total mortality for all patients over a median follow-up period of 2.4 years was 26.3%. Overall, 10.5% of patients died suddenly (40% of all deaths), 7.9% died of pump failure (30% of all deaths), and 7.9% of patients died in other ways (30% of all deaths). Overall 1-year mortality for all-cause mortality was 10.8% ± 0.3%, of which 5.3 ± 0.3% died suddenly, 3.1 ± 0.2% died of pump failure, and 2.8 ± 0.2% had other causes of death. Age-adjusted all-cause mortality was 24% lower for women than for men (hazard ratio [HR], 0.76; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.68-0.85; p < 0.0001). Age-adjusted mortality from sudden death was 31% lower for women compared with men (HR, 0.69; CI, 0.58-0.83; p < 0.0001). Mortality from pump failure was similar in men and women (HR, 0.95; CI, 0.78-1.14; p < 0.56). Mortality from other causes was 27% lower in women (HR, 0.73; CI, 0.60-0.90; p < 0.003).