Sex differences in heart: from basics to clinics

Abstract

Highlights Sex differences exist from the cardiac structure and function to the presentation and progression of cardiac diseases. After puberty, QTC difference between boy and girls visible, but diminish with age and disappears after 75 years of age. Sex hormones play an important role in the sex-specific differences mainly by affecting cardiac repolarization Women have a higher risk of developing a special type of ventricular tachycardia associated with adverse effects of drugs that prolong ventricular repolarization time. HiPSC-CMs offer a robust human-based platform for studying sex-specific drug responses and for studying the mechanisms of sex differences at cellular and tissue levels.

Keywords

• Sex differences
• Electrocardiogram
• Arrhythmias
• Heart failure
• Torsades de pointes
• iPSC modeling