Abdominal Obesity Is Associated with an Increased Risk of All-Cause Mortality in Males but Not in Females with HFpEF

BACKGROUND: Association between abdominal obesity and development of heart failure (HF) with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) between the sexes is not completely understood. OBJECTIVES: This study evaluated the association between abdominal obesity and the risk of all-cause mortality in patients with HFpEF while performing a gender outcome comparison. METHODS: A post hoc analysis was undertaken from the American cohort of the Treatment of Preserved Cardiac Function Heart Failure with an Aldosterone Antagonist (TOPCAT). The primary outcome (all-cause mortality) and the secondary outcomes (cardiovascular mortality, hospitalization for HF, stroke, and MI) were evaluated via Cox proportional hazards models to compare the hazard ratios (HRs) between sexes in HFpEF patients. Abdominal obesity was defined as a waist circumference of ≥102 cm in men and ≥88 cm in women. RESULTS: A total of 3320 HFpEF patients (1620 men [48.80%] and 1700 women [51.20%]) were included in the analysis. The mean follow-up period was 3.4 ± 1.7 years, with 503 patients dying during that time. After multivariable adjustment, abdominal obesity was significantly associated with an increased risk of all-cause mortality in males (adjusted HR: 1.32; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.02 to 1.71; p = 0.038). Abdominal obesity was associated with hospitalization for HF in both male (adjusted HR: 1.39; 95% CI: 1.01 to 1.93; p = 0.045) and female patients (adjusted HR: 1.15; 95% CI: 1.18 to 3.28; p = 0.010). CONCLUSIONS: Abdominal obesity is associated with increased risks of all-cause mortality in the male but not the female HFpEF population and is associated with increased risks of hospitalization for HF in both sexes.