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Women and Atrial Fibrillation
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  • ANNABELLE VOLGMAN,
  • Emelia Benjamin,
  • Anne Curtis,
  • Margaret Fang,
  • Kathryn Lindley,
  • Gerald Naccarelli,
  • Carl Pepine,
  • Odayme Quesada,
  • Marmar Vaseghi,
  • Albert Waldo,
  • Nanette Wenger,
  • Andrea Russo
ANNABELLE VOLGMAN
Rush University Medical Center

Corresponding Author:annabelle_volgman@rush.edu

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Emelia Benjamin
Boston University
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Anne Curtis
University at Buffalo
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Margaret Fang
University of California San Francisco
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Kathryn Lindley
Washington University in St Louis
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Gerald Naccarelli
Penn State Heart and Vascular Institute
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Carl Pepine
University of Florida College of Medicine
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Odayme Quesada
Christ Hospital
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Marmar Vaseghi
UCLA Cardiac Arrhythmia Center
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Albert Waldo
Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine
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Nanette Wenger
Emory University School of Medicine
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Andrea Russo
Cooper University Hospital
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Abstract

Atrial fibrillation (AF) remains a growing problem in the United States and worldwide, imposing a high individual and health system burden, including increased resource consumption due to repeated hospitalizations, stroke, dementia, heart failure, and death. This comprehensive review summarizes the most recent data on sex-related differences in risks associated with AF. Women with AF have increased risk of stroke and death compared to men, and possible reasons for this disparity are explored. Women also continue to have worse symptoms and quality of life, and poorer outcomes with stroke prevention, as well as with rate and rhythm control management strategies. Many current rhythm control treatment strategies for AF, including cardioversion and ablation, are used less frequently in women as compared to men, whereas women are more likely to be treated with rate control strategies or anti-arrhythmic drugs. Sex differences should be considered in treating women with AF to improve outcomes and women and men should be offered the same interventions for AF. We need to improve the evidence base to understand if variation in utilization of rate and rhythm control management between men and women represents health inequities or appropriate clinical judgement.
30 Nov 2020Submitted to Journal of Cardiovascular Electrophysiology
02 Dec 2020Submission Checks Completed
02 Dec 2020Assigned to Editor
Oct 2021Published in Journal of Cardiovascular Electrophysiology volume 32 issue 10 on pages 2793-2807. 10.1111/jce.14838