Purpose of review: The literature on the importance of sex in heart failure diagnosis is scarce. This review aims to summarize current knowledge on sex differences regarding the diagnosis of heart failure.
Recent findings: Comorbidities are frequent in patients with heart failure, and their prevalence differs between sexes; some differences in symptomatology and diagnostic imaging techniques were also found. Biomarkers also usually show differences between sexes but are not significant enough to establish sex-specific ranges. This article outlines current information related to sex differences in HF diagnosis. Research in this field remains to be done. Maintaining a high diagnostic suspicion, actively searching for the disease, and considering the sex is relevant for early diagnosis and better prognosis. In addition, more studies with equal representation are needed.
Keywords: Biomarkers; Diagnosis; Heart failure; Sex differences.
© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.