{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,16]],"date-time":"2026-01-16T02:24:15Z","timestamp":1768530255275,"version":"3.49.0"},"reference-count":55,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2023,7,31]],"date-time":"2023-07-31T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1690761600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Cardiovasc. Med."],"abstract":"<jats:sec><jats:title>Aims<\/jats:title><jats:p>Women may have different management patterns than men in specialised care. Our aim was to assess potential sex differences in referral, management and outcomes of patients attending outpatient cardiac consultations.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Methods and results<\/jats:title><jats:p>Retrospective observational analysis of patients \u226518 years referred for the first time from primary care to a tertiary hospital cardiology clinic in 2017\u20132018, comparing reasons for referral, decisions and post-visit outcomes by sex.<\/jats:p><jats:p>A total of 5,974 patients, 2,452 (41.0%) men aged 59.2\u2009\u00b1\u200918.6 years and 3,522 (59.0%) women aged 64.5\u2009\u00b1\u200917.9 years (<jats:italic>P<\/jats:italic>\u2009&amp;lt;\u20090.001) were referred for a first cardiology consultation. The age-related referral rates were higher in women. The most common reasons for consultation were palpitations in women (<jats:italic>n<\/jats:italic>\u2009=\u2009676; 19.2%) and ECG abnormalities in men (<jats:italic>n<\/jats:italic>\u2009=\u2009570; 23.2%). Delays to cardiology visits and additional tests were similar. During 24 months of follow-up, women had fewer cardiology hospitalisations (204; 5.8% vs. 229; 9.3%; <jats:italic>P<\/jats:italic>\u2009=\u20090.003) and lower mortality (65; 1.8% vs. 66; 2.7%; <jats:italic>P<\/jats:italic>\u2009=\u20090.028), but those aged &amp;lt;65 years had more emergency department visits (756; 48.5% vs. 560; 39.9%, <jats:italic>P<\/jats:italic>\u2009&amp;lt;\u20090.001) than men.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Conclusion<\/jats:title><jats:p>There are substantial sex differences in primary care cardiology referral patterns, including causes, rates, decisions and outcomes, which are only partially explained by age differences. Further research is needed to understand the reasons for these differences.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fcvm.2023.1202960","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2023,7,31]],"date-time":"2023-07-31T21:42:05Z","timestamp":1690839725000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":5,"title":["Sex differences in patterns of referral and resource utilization in the cardiology clinic: an outpatient analysis"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"10","author":[{"given":"Lourdes","family":"Vicent","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Nicol\u00e1s","family":"Rosillo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Guillermo","family":"Moreno","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Rafael","family":"Salguero-Bodes","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Clara","family":"Go\u00f1i","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Jos\u00e9 Luis","family":"Bernal","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Germ\u00e1n","family":"Seara","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"H\u00e9ctor","family":"Bueno","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2023,7,31]]},"reference":[{"key":"B1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"e139","DOI":"10.1161\/CIR.0000000000000757","article-title":"Heart disease and stroke statistics\u20142020 update: a report from the American heart association","volume":"141","author":"Viran","year":"2020","journal-title":"Circulation"},{"key":"B2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"492","DOI":"10.1136\/heartjnl-2016-310216","article-title":"Gender inequalities in cardiovascular risk factor assessment and management in primary healthcare","volume":"103","author":"Hyun","year":"2017","journal-title":"Heart"},{"key":"B3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1175","DOI":"10.2105\/AJPH.2020.305702","article-title":"Inequalities and deteriorations in cardiovascular health in premenopausal US women, 1990\u20132016","volume":"110","author":"O\u2019Neil","year":"2020","journal-title":"Am J Public Health"},{"key":"B4","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"e0239866","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0239866","article-title":"Social inequalities in tobacco-attributable mortality in Spain. 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