Abstract 4143265: Unveiling Gender Disparities in Chagas Disease patients with cardiac involvement: Insights from the NIS Database

Background: Chagas disease (CD) is caused by a protozoan named Trypanosoma cruzi, in its chronic stage it may present with organ involvement, including the heart. Previous studies suggest that being a male is associated with increased mortality in CD. Understanding gender disparities associated with this condition is imperative for better patient management. Hypothesis: Gender has an impact on the outcome of CD with cardiac involvement. Aim: To investigate if gender has an impact on the clinical outcomes of CD with cardiac involvement. Methods: We examined the National Inpatient Sample data from 2016-2020, and conducted a retrospective descriptive study. We included all patients 18 years and older, male and female, diagnosed with CD with cardiac involvement. We excluded patients who were younger than 18 years of age. Baseline socio-demographic characteristics, comorbidities, and outcomes of the two groups were described. Hypothesis testing for categorical variables was performed using Chi-Square. Continuous variables were tested with a Student t-test. Statistical significance was defined as a two-tailed p-value of <0.0001. Results: A total of 135 patients had CD with cardiac involvement. The prevalence of CD with cardiac involvement was notably lower (33.33%) among male patients than among females (66.67%).There was zero in-hospital mortality in these patients. The average hospital stay was 11.37 days, and the average total charges were $227,041.9. Gender did not significantly impact hospital length of stay and total charge in these patients. Most patients were categorized as Hispanic (85.2%). Main comorbidities included diabetes mellitus 2, heart failure, hypertension, obesity, with no significant gender difference. Conclusion: CD with cardiac involvement was more prevalent in Hispanic females, but gender did not impact hospital length of stay and total charges.