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 .
Gender-related differences in catheter ablation of atrial fibrillation.
AIMS Women have an increased risk for atrial fibrillation (AF)-related complications and there is evidence towards a reduced efficacy of the rhythm control strategy than men . A catheter-based strategy is therefore widely attractive , but the impact of gender on catheter ablation ( CA ) of AF remains undefined . METHODS AND RESULTS We included 221 consecutive patients ( 150 men ) who underwent CA of drug-refractory AF .  Gender differences in clinical presentation and outcomes were compared . Women were older ( P = 0.002 ) , had a longer history of AF ( P = 0.04 ) , and were more likely to have hypertension ( P = 0.04 ) . Moreover , a concomitant valvular heart disease tended to be more common in women ( 32.4 vs. 23.3 % ; P = 0.28 ) and left atrium dimensions were significantly larger ( P = 0.003 ) . However , acute success rate and complications rate were similar between genders . After 22.5 + /- 11.8 months of follow-up , the overall freedom from arrhythmia recurrences was similar ( 83.1 vs. 82.7 % in men ) , and a similar improvement in SF-36 quality of life scores was achieved in both groups . CONCLUSION Women are referred for AF ablation later with a more complex clinical pre-operative presentation . Despite this higher risk profile in women , no differences were detected in clinical outcomes . Our findings indicate that CA of AF appears to be safe and effective in women as in men
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 .