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 .
Anticoagulation in women with non-valvular atrial fibrillation in the stroke prevention using an oral thrombin inhibitor (SPORTIF) trials.
AIMS The risk of stroke is greater among women with atrial fibrillation ( AF ) than men .  Warfarin protects against stroke , but treatment-related bleeding occurs more often in women than in men . METHODS AND RESULTS SPORTIF III ( open label , n=3410 ) and V ( double-blind , n=3922 ) included 2257 women with AF and one or more stroke risk factors r and omized to warfarin [ target international normalized ratio ( INR ) 2.0 - 3.0 ] or ximelagatran ( 36 mg twice daily ) . Primary outcomes were all stroke ( ischaemic/haemorrhagic ) and systemic embolic event .  Women were older , on average , than men , 73.4+/-8.0 vs. 69.8+/-9.0 years ( P<0.0001 ) . More women were > 75-years old and women had more risk factors than men had ( P<0.0001 ) . The INR on warfarin ( mean 2.5+/-0.7 ) was within target range for 67 % of follow-up regardless of gender . Women more often developed primary events [ 2.08%/year , 95 % confidence interval ( CI ) 1.60 - 2.56%/year vs. 1.44%/year , 95 % CI 1.18 - 1.71%/year in men ; P=0.016 ) . Major bleeding rates were similar ( P=0.766 ) but women experienced more overall ( major/minor ) bleeding ( P<0.001 ) . Warfarin was associated with more overall bleeding in both genders and more major bleeding in women than in men ( P=0.001 ) . CONCLUSION When compared with men with AF , women in these studies were older and had more stroke risk factors . Women were more prone to anticoagulant-related bleeding ; the higher rate of thrombo-embolism among women was related to more frequent interruption of anticoagulant therapy
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 .