Abstract
Atrial fibrillation (AF), is the most common sustained arrhythmia and is associated with a substantial increase in morbidity and mortality. Several studies have demonstrated sex-related differences in various aspects, including age at diagnosis, clinical manifestations, management and prognosis. These dissimilarities may dictate different approaches to management and could translate to differences in outcomes. However, similarly to other cardiovascular therapies, there may be a tendency to treat females more conservatively and less aggressively than male patients. The use of oral anticoagulants, for example, is lower in female patients with AF. Electrical cardioversion is less often used. Likewise, despite higher rates of adverse reactions to antiarrhythmic drugs in women, they are less likely to undergo catheter ablations, a well-established therapeutic approach to symptomatic patients with recurrences of AF. In this article, we review sex related dissimilarities in patients with AF. In addition, we discuss various treatment options, and specifically refer to differences in access of treatment, success rates, and potential treatment-related complications.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 690-697 |
Number of pages | 8 |
Journal | EP Europace |
Volume | 21 |
Issue number | 5 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 1 May 2019 |
Keywords
- ablation
- atrial fibrillation
- cardioversion
- catheter ablation
- clinical presentation
- complications
- gender-related differences
- lifetime risk
- outcome
- procedural complications
- rate control
- rhythm control
- sex differences
- sudden-death
- surgical ablation
- temporal trends
- torsade-de-pointes
- worldwide survey
- Rhythm control
- Cardioversion
- Rate control
- CLINICAL PRESENTATION
- Complications
- SUDDEN-DEATH
- Atrial fibrillation
- Sex differences
- PROCEDURAL COMPLICATIONS
- SURGICAL ABLATION
- Ablation
- GENDER-RELATED DIFFERENCES
- LIFETIME RISK
- TORSADE-DE-POINTES
- Outcome
- CATHETER ABLATION
- WORLDWIDE SURVEY
- TEMPORAL TRENDS