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 .
A risk score for predicting stroke or death in individuals with new-onset atrial fibrillation in the community: the Framingham Heart Study.
CONTEXT Prior risk stratification schemes for atrial fibrillation ( AF ) have been based on r and omized trial cohorts or Medicare administrative data bases , have included patients with established AF , and have focused on stroke as the principal outcome . OBJECTIVE To derive risk scores for stroke alone and stroke or death in community-based individuals with new-onset AF . DESIGN , SETTING , AND PARTICIPANTS Prospect i ve , community-based , observational cohort in Framingham , Mass. We identified 868 participants with new-onset AF , 705 of whom were not treated with warfarin at baseline . Risk scores for stroke ( ischemic or hemorrhagic ) and stroke or death were developed with censoring when warfarin initiation occurred during follow-up . Event rates were examined in low-risk individuals , as defined by the risk score and 4 previously published risk schemes . MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Stroke and the combination of stroke or death . RESULTS During a mean follow-up of 4.0 years free of warfarin use , stroke alone occurred in 83 participants and stroke or death occurred in 382 participants . A risk score for stroke was derived that included the following risk predictors : advancing age , female sex , increasing systolic blood pressure , prior stroke or transient ischemic attack , and diabetes . With the risk score , 14.3 % of the cohort had a predicted 5-year stroke rate < or = 7.5 % ( average annual rate < or = 1.5 % ) , and 30.6 % of the cohort had a predicted 5-year stroke rate < or = 10 % ( average annual rate < or = 2 % ) . Actual stroke rates in these low-risk groups were 1.1 and 1.5 per 100 person-years , respectively . Previous risk schemes classified 6.4 % to 17.3 % of subjects as low risk , with actual stroke rates of 0.9 to 2.3 per 100 person-years . A risk score for stroke or death is also presented . CONCLUSION These risk scores can be used to estimate the absolute risk of an adverse event in individuals with AF , which may be helpful in counseling patients and making treatment decisions
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 .