ACC: Afib Harder to Live with for Women

MedPage Today: March 15, 2013

SAN FRANCISCO — Atrial fibrillation feels worse for women, although men are more likely to die from the arrhythmia, a subanalysis of the ORBIT AF registry showed.

Women were more symptomatic with a poorer quality of life and greater functional limitations despite similar oral anticoagulation rates and less advanced Afib than was seen in men, Jonathan Piccini, MD, of the Duke Clinical Research Institute, and colleagues found.

However, mortality risk at 1 year was 41% more likely from any cause and 54% more likely from cardiovascular causes among men than among women in atrial fibrillation, both significant differences, the researchers reported here at the American College of Cardiology meeting. Read more