Valvular Heart Diseases in Swedish Males and Females: A National Cohort Study | JACC: Advances

0:00Aindash and Branbat, podcast editor for the Jack Advances team, in the April 2026 issue, the study, Valvilla Heart Disease in Swedish Males and Females, a National cohort study, is by first author Dr. Wandel and senior author Dr. Jant Sandquist from the London University Malmo, Sweden. Sex difference in Valvilla Heart Disease have been examined, but rarely using a nationwide comprehensive approach. The aim of this study was to analyze the risk of different types of Valvilla heart disease among males and females in Sweden. This was a nationwide, Swedish study of all individuals, with a population of 9.98 million people, with 4.97 million males and 5.01 million being female. Valvilla Heart Disease were defined as at least one registered diagnosis in the National Patient Register between 1 January 1998 and 31 December 2018.

1:01Cox regression analysis was used to estimate hazard ratios with 95% confidence intervals of incident-valvilla heart disease in males versus females. The Cox regression models were adjusted for age comorbidities and socio-democratic factors. There were 111,350 male cases and 107,527 female cases, corresponding to an overall incidence rate by 100,000 person years of 68.6 among males and 51.3 among females. The hazard ratios for males compared to females were for rheumatic mitral-valvilla disorders 0.50 for rheumatic aortic valve disorders 1.08. For rheumatic tricuspid valve disorders 0.61 for non-rumatic mitral valve disorders 1.08. For non-rumatic aortic valve disorders 1.25 for non-rumatic tricuspid valve disorders 0.72 and for pulmonary valve disorders 0.82.

2:04In conclusion the authors observed sex differences which in general a higher incidence rate among males of valvilla heart disease diagnoses but a lower risk of specific valve disorders. The underlying factors for the sex differences are unclear and need further investigation.