7 February 2012, Vol 156, No. 3>

Email

American College of Physicians

You must be logged in as an individual user to share content.

Copyright in the material you requested is held by American College Of Physicians (unless otherwise noted). This email ability is provided as a courtesy, and by using it you agree that that you are requesting the material solely for personal, non-commercial use, and that it is subject to ACP's Conditions of Use. The information provided in order to email this topic will not be used to send unsolicited email, nor will it be furnished to third parties. Please refer to American College Of Physicians's Privacy Policy for further information.

Copyright © American College Of Physicians. All rights reserved.
Share
Get Citation

Implantable Cardioverter-Defibrillators in Women. Annals of Internal Medicine. 2012 Feb;156(3):I-30.

Download citation file:

RIS (Zotero)

EndNote

BibTex

Medlars

ProCite

RefWorks

Reference Manager

Copyright © 2013 The American College of Physicians. All Rights Reserved.
PDF

Summaries for Patients | 7 February 2012

Implantable Cardioverter-Defibrillators in Women FREE

The full report is titled “Sex Differences in Implantable Cardioverter-Defibrillator Outcomes: Findings From a Prospective Defibrillator Database.” It is in the 7 February 2012 issue of Annals of Internal Medicine (volume 156, pages 195-203). The authors are D.R. MacFadden, E. Crystal, A.D. Krahn, I. Mangat, J.S. Healey, P. Dorian, D. Birnie, C.S. Simpson, Y. Khaykin, A. Pinter, K. Nanthakumar, A.J. Calzavara, P.C. Austin, J.V. Tu, and D.S. Lee.

Ann Intern Med. 2012;156(3):I-30. doi:10.7326/0003-4819-156-3-201202070-00002

Text Size: A A A

Article

Comments

What is the problem and what is known about it so far?

Implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (ICDs) are battery-powered devices that are placed under the skin of patients with certain heart problems. They are recommended for some men and women who have had cardiac arrest or who have severely reduced heart function. Once implanted, the ICD can deliver electrical shocks as needed to treat abnormal and dangerous patterns in the heart's electrical system. Whether ICDs are used at similar rates and result in similar outcomes among women and men are not known.

Why did the researchers do this particular study?

To find out whether women receive ICDs as often as men and whether they experience the same benefits or harms as men once the ICD is in place.

Who was studied?

6021 women and men in Ontario, Canada, who were referred to cardiologists who specialize in ICD placement.

How was the study done?

In Ontario, information about any patient referred to a cardiology specialist for consideration of an ICD must be entered into a database that is maintained by the government. The authors used information from this database to analyze how often women and men received an ICD after being referred to a cardiology specialist, as well as information about problems that occurred after ICD placement and whether the patients ever received electrical shocks for treatment.

What did the researchers find?

Women were just as likely as men to receive an ICD if they were referred to a cardiology specialist. After placement of the ICD, some women and men had complications; however, these complications occurred more often in women than in men. The most common problem seen in women was movement of the electrical leads of the ICD, which sometimes required the cardiologists to reposition them to ensure appropriate function. One year after ICD placement, women were less likely to have ever received a shock from the ICD to treat an abnormal or a dangerous pattern in the heart's electrical system.

What were the limitations of the study?

The researchers could not determine whether doctors used different criteria for referring men and women to cardiologist specialists for ICD placement.

What are the implications of the study?

The risks and benefits of ICD placement may not be the same for women as for men. More studies are needed to better assess which patients are most likely to receive the greatest benefit and least harm from ICDs.

Figures

Tables

References

Letters

NOTE:
Citing articles are presented as examples only. In non-demo SCM6 implementation, integration with CrossRef’s “Cited By” API will populate this tab (http://www.crossref.org/citedby.html).

Compression-Only CPR: Pushing the Science Forward
Cone
AAM 2010;304:1493-1495.

All you need to read in the other general jounals
BMJ 2010;341:c5893-c1494.

Comments

Please read the other comments before posting. Contributors must reveal any conflict of interest.
Comments are moderated and will appear on the site at the discretion of The American College of Physicians editorial staff. Please be sure your email address is updated in your account, otherwise the American College of Physicians will not be able to contact you about your comment.

* = Required Field

Comment Author(s)* (if multiple authors, separate names by comma)

Example: John Doe

Affiliation & Institution*

Disclosure of Any Conflicts of Interest* (applies to the past 5 years and foreseeable future) Indicate any potential conflicts of interest of each author below, including specific financial interests and relationships and affiliations relevant to the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript (eg, employment/affiliation, grants or funding, consultancies, honoraria, speakers bureau, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, royalties, donation of medical equipment, or patents filed, received, or pending). If all authors have none, check "No potential conflicts or relevant financial interests" in the box below. Please also indicate any funding received in support of this work. The information will be posted with your response.

Please disclose any conflicts of interest or check the box below.

No potential conflicts or relevant financial interests

Comment Title*

Comment*

Get Audio Code

Submit Cancel

Submit a Comment

Summary for Patients

Clinical Slide Sets

Terms of Use

The In the Clinic® slide sets are owned and copyrighted by the American College of Physicians (ACP). All text, graphics, trademarks, and other intellectual property incorporated into the slide sets remain the sole and exclusive property of the ACP. The slide sets may be used only by the person who downloads or purchases them and only for the purpose of presenting them during not-for-profit educational activities. Users may incorporate the entire slide set or selected individual slides into their own teaching presentations but may not alter the content of the slides in any way or remove the ACP copyright notice. Users may make print copies for use as hand-outs for the audience the user is personally addressing but may not otherwise reproduce or distribute the slides by any means or media, including but not limited to sending them as e-mail attachments, posting them on Internet or Intranet sites, publishing them in meeting proceedings, or making them available for sale or distribution in any unauthorized form, without the express written permission of the ACP. Unauthorized use of the In the Clinic slide sets will constitute copyright infringement.