LAUSR

Sex disparities in care and outcomes in patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI), heart failure, and cardiogenic shock (CS) have been well documented. In the current report from a large representative national database, Osman and colleagues further expanded our knowledge in the field of healthcare disparities by examining sex differences in the incidence, management, and outcomes of patients with AMI ‐ and non ‐ AMI ‐ related CS, stratified by different age groups. 1 The investigators performed retrospective analyses from the National Inpatient Sample (NIS) database from 2004 to 2018 inclusive of 1,506,281 hospitalizations, of which nearly 40% were categorized as AMI ‐ CS and 60% as non ‐ AMI ‐ CS hospitalizations. The investigators found that the overall incidence of CS increased over time in both men and women, although women had lower incidence of AMI ‐ CS and non ‐ AMI ‐ CS across all age groups. A favorable trend of reduction in in ‐ hospital mortality was seen among all age groups and regardless of sex in CS patients, except in young AMI ‐ CS patients (20 – 44 years) in whom a notable uptrend was observed. After adjustment using propensity score matching, middle ‐ aged women (45 – 64 years) with AMI ‐ CS had higher in ‐ hospital mortality compared to their male counterparts, while women with non ‐ AMI ‐ CS experienced a higher mortality across all age categories (except among elderly patients ≥ 85 years). Sex disparities in the rates of revascularization and use of mechanical circulatory support (MCS) devices were also noted. The investigators are be congratulated on their well ‐ conducted analyses. The