Effect of gender on echocardiographic outcomes of patients presenting with mitral stenosis at a tertiary care hospital.

BACKGROUND To assess the gender-based differences in the echocardiographic outcomes of patients with mitral stenosis presenting at a tertiary care hospital and the clinical implications of such differences. METHODS A total of 90 echocardiographs of both men and women (aged < or = 15 years) having mitral valve area (MVA) less than 4 cm2 were assessed. In addition to MVA, pressure halftime and left atrial diameter (LAD) of the patients was also recorded. Other co-existing valvular lesions were also assessed in addition to mitral stenosis. Statistical analysis was done using SPSS-17. RESULTS A higher prevalence of mitral stenosis (MS) was found in women than men (76.66% vs 24.44%). Men were having more severe mitral stenosis as compared to women (MVA = 1.19 cm2 vs 1.32 cm2). This also resulted in significantly higher left atrial dilatation in males as compared to women (45.09 vs 41.75, p = 0.0422). Most of the patients had other coexisting valvular lesions and isolated MS was rare. However, men had a predominance of aortic stenosis along with mitral stenosis (27% vs 4%, p = 0.0059) whereas women had a higher prevalence of mitral regurgitation along with mitral stenosis than the men (65% vs 36%, p = 0.0258). CONCLUSION There were certain significant differences in echocardiographic outcomes of patients based upon their gender. A gender-specific management approach towards the patients with mitral stenosis is essential to have better outcome.