In brief , female atrial fibrillation patients more commonly present comorbidities , leading to a higher prevalence of persistent atrial fibrillation ; moreover , they refer to hospital care later and with a longer disease history .
Atrial fibrillation symptoms relate to low quality of life in female patients ; in fact , atrial fibrillation paroxysm usually presents higher heart rate , leading to preferentially adopt a rate rather than a rhythm-control strategy .
Female atrial fibrillation patients present an increased risk of stroke , worsened by the lower  oral anticoagulant prescription rate related to the concomitant higher haemorrhagic risk profile .
Trans-catheter ablation is under-used in female patients and , on the contrary , they are more commonly affected by anti-arrhythmic drug side effects
Atrial fibrillation is the most common supraventricular arrhythmia .
Its prevalence increases with age and preferentially affects male patients .
Over 75 years of age , however , female patients being more prevalent , the absolute number of patients affected is similar between sexes .
Despite this , few data are available in the literature concerning sex-related differences in atrial fibrillation patients .
The present systematic review therefore considers comorbidities , referring symptoms , quality of life , pharmacological approaches  and  trans-catheter ablation  in female rather than in male atrial fibrillation patients in search of parameters that may have an impact on the treatment outcome .
Impact of atrial fibrillation on mortality, stroke, and medical costs.
BACKGROUND The impact of  atrial fibrillation ( AF ) on mortality , stroke , and medical costs is unknown . METHODS We conducted a prospect i ve cohort study of hospitalized Medicare patients with AF and 1 other cardiovascular diagnosis ( CVD ) compared with a matched group without AF ( n = 26,753 ) , r and omly selected in 6 age-sex strata from 1989 MedPAR files of more than 1 million patients diagnosed as having AF .  Stroke rates were also determined in another cohort free of CVD ( n = 14,267 ) .  Total medical costs after hospitalization were available from a 1991 cohort . Cumulative mortality , stroke rates , and costs following index admission were adjusted by multivariate and proportional hazard regression analyses . RESULTS Mortality rates were high in individuals with CVD , ranging from 19.0 % to 52.1 % in 1 year . Adjusted relative mortality risk was approximately 20 % higher in patients with AF in all age-sex strata during each of the 3 years studied ( P < .05 ) . Incidence of stroke was high in individuals with CVD , 6.2 % to 15.4 % in 1 year , with and without AF , and was at least 5-fold higher than in individuals without CVD . In those with CVD , stroke rates were approximately 25 % higher in women with AF ( P < .05 ) but only 10 % higher in men . Adjusted total Medicare spending in 1 year was 8.6- to 22.6-fold greater in men , and 9.8- to 11.2-fold greater in women with AF ( P < .05 ) . Second- and third-year costs were increased as well . CONCLUSION Prevention of AF and treatment of patients with AF and associated CVD may yield benefits in reduced mortality and stroke as well as reducing health care costs
In brief , female atrial fibrillation patients more commonly present comorbidities , leading to a higher prevalence of persistent atrial fibrillation ; moreover , they refer to hospital care later and with a longer disease history .
Atrial fibrillation symptoms relate to low quality of life in female patients ; in fact , atrial fibrillation paroxysm usually presents higher heart rate , leading to preferentially adopt a rate rather than a rhythm-control strategy .
Female atrial fibrillation patients present an increased risk of stroke , worsened by the lower  oral anticoagulant prescription rate related to the concomitant higher haemorrhagic risk profile .
Trans-catheter ablation is under-used in female patients and , on the contrary , they are more commonly affected by anti-arrhythmic drug side effects
Atrial fibrillation is the most common supraventricular arrhythmia .
Its prevalence increases with age and preferentially affects male patients .
Over 75 years of age , however , female patients being more prevalent , the absolute number of patients affected is similar between sexes .
Despite this , few data are available in the literature concerning sex-related differences in atrial fibrillation patients .
The present systematic review therefore considers comorbidities , referring symptoms , quality of life , pharmacological approaches  and  trans-catheter ablation  in female rather than in male atrial fibrillation patients in search of parameters that may have an impact on the treatment outcome .