GENDER-RELATED DIFFERENCES IN EXERCISE VENTRICULAR-FUNCTION AMONG HEALTHY-SUBJECTS AND PATIENTS

Increasing numbers of women are undergoing noninvasive stress testing for coronary artery disease evaluation. Limited information is availab le regarding the presence, magnitude, and importance of gender-related differences in exercise ventriculography among the heterogeneous popu lation of patients referred for noninvasive stress testing, Patients r ef erred for exercise radionuclide ventriculography between 1979 and 1 986 were evaluated, including 175 patients with a low likelihood of co ronary artery disease, 59 patients with angiographically normal corona ry arteries, and 419 patients with coronary artery disease, Overall, w omen demonstrated higher resting left ventricular ejection fraction an d lower Delta left ventricular ejection fraction response to exercise compared with men, Although left ventricular response to exercise corr elated with the underlying severity of coronary artery disease in both women and men, fewer women demonstrated a Delta left ventricular ejec tion fraction greater than or equal to 5% despite a lower prevalence o f multivessel coronary artery disease compared with men, We conclude t hat gender-related differences in left ventricular response to exercis e are present in a wide range of patients referred for testing.