Assessment of female sex as a risk factor in atrial fibrillation in Sweden: nationwide retrospective cohort study

Objective To determine whether women with atrial fibrillation have a higher risk of stroke than men.

Design Nationwide retrospective cohort study.

Setting Patients with a diagnosis of atrial fibrillation in the Swedish hospital discharge register between 1 July 2005 and 31 December 2008. Information about drug treatment taken from the Swedish drug register.

Participants 100 802 patients with atrial fibrillation at any Swedish hospital or hospital affiliated outpatient clinic with a total follow-up of 139 504 years at risk (median 1.2 years). We excluded patients with warfarin at baseline, mitral stenosis, previous valvular surgery, or who died within 14 days from baseline.

Main outcome measure Incidence of ischaemic stroke. Read more