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AF stronger risk factor for CVD, death in women than in men
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Women with atrial fibrillation have a 12% higher relative risk for all-cause mortality and a significantly stronger risk for CVD than men with atrial fibrillation, according to study results in The BMJ.
The researchers conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of 30 studies with 4,371,714 participants that investigated sex-specific associations between AF and all-cause mortality, CV, stroke, cardiac events (cardiac death and nonfatal MI) and HF.
Compared with men, women with AF had an increased risk for all-cause mortality (pooled RR = 1.12; 95% CI, 1.07-1.17), stroke (pooled RR = 1.99; 95% CI, 1.46-2.71), CV mortality (pooled RR = 1.93; 95% CI, 1.44-2.6), cardiac events (pooled RR = 1.55; 95% CI, 1.15-2.08) and HF (pooled RR = 1.16; 95% CI, 1.07-1.27).
Previous research has yielded conflicting evidence of the effect of AF on risk for death and CVD in women, according to the researchers. However, Connor A. Emdin, a doctoral student at The George Institute for Global Health in the United Kingdom, told Cardiology Today that the difference between the findings of this new study and previous research is related to the power of detection. “We identified all available studies that examined the association of AF with [CVD] in women and men. By pooling together all of these studies, we had much greater power to detect an interaction between women and men than any of the previous, much smaller, individual studies.”
The researchers called for more research focusing on the underlying causes of the differences observed between men and women with AF. They also encouraged clinicians to consider more aggressive treatment of risk factors in women with AF. – by Tracey Romero
Disclosure: One researcher reports receiving consultant fees from Amgen and Novartis.
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