Effect of gender on spect myocardial perfusion imaging results in Egypt

Background Globally, Ischemic heart disease (IHD) is considered a leading cause of mortality and morbidity affecting men than women. The more the population ages, the more the prevalence. There was a concern about improper referral of women to MPI testing. We aimed to study if there a gender effect on the results of MPI studies and if this could have an impact on future referral or investigation selection for diagnosis of IHD as a general or specially in women. Results Female gender represented 266 (60%) while male represented in 177 (40%). Males demonstrated significantly higher age (55 +/- 10 vs. 49 +/- 9, P < .0001), weight (85 +/- 11 vs. 83 +/- 13, P = 0.006), height (166 +/- 4 vs. 165 +/- 4, P = 0.02), and smoking (35% vs. 0%, P < 0.001) than females. Male gender was associated with ten times increased risk of positive MPI (OR = 10, 95% CI = 5.348-18.868, P < 0.001). Diabetes was associated with an increased risk of positive MPI (OR = 1.82, 95% CI = 1.052-3.148, P = 0.032). Conclusions Positive MPI test are more common in males. Female patients with positive MPI were younger in age than male patients. Diabetes mellitus and age are traditional strong predictors for the presence of positive MPI test.