Sex-related differences in the risk factor profile and medications of patients with atrial fibrillation recruited in J-TRACE.
BACKGROUND
Clinical characteristics, including risk factors for thromboembolism, and medications differ between men and women with atrial fibrillation (AF) in Western countries. Whether such a difference exists for Japanese patients with AF is unclear, so data from J-TRACE were used to investigate this issue.


RESULTS
A total of 2,892 patients (2,028 men, 864 women; 70.3 years old) with AF were analyzed for the respective prevalences of risk factors and medications. CHADS2 score was calculated to determine thromboembolic risk level. Women were older (P<0.001), and more frequently had heart failure (P<0.001), and hypertension (P=0.051) than men. The proportion of subjects aged 75 years or older was higher among women than among men (P<0.001). CHADS2 score was therefore significantly higher in women than in men (2.05+/-1.29 vs 1.88+/-1.33, P<0.001). Sex-related differences were not observed for the prevalence of diabetes mellitus, myocardial infarction or ischemic stroke, nor did warfarin usage differ between men and women.


CONCLUSIONS
Sex-related differences were observed in the risk factor profile and medications of Japanese patients with AF. CHADS2 score was higher in women than in men.
Inoue
Hiroshi
H
Department of Internal Medicine, University of Toyama, Toyama, Japan. hiroshi@med.u-toyama.ac.jp
Nozawa
Takashi
T
Hirai
Tadakazu
T
Goto
Shinya
S
Origasa
Hideki
H
Shimada
Kazuyuki
K
Uchiyama
Shinichiro
S
Hirabayashi
Takayuki
T
Koretsune
Yukihiro
Y
Ono
Shiro
S
Hasegawa
Tooru
T
Sasagawa
Yasuo
Y
Kaneko
Yoshiaki
Y
Ikeda
Yasuo
Y
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001241:Aspirin; D001281:Atrial Fibrillation / Q000150:complications*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007004:Hypoglycemic Agents; D007564:Japan; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010975:Platelet Aggregation Inhibitors; D055553:Prescription Drugs; D012042:Registries; D012307:Risk Factors; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D013923:Thromboembolism / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000517:prevention & control; D014859:Warfarin
D007004:Hypoglycemic Agents; D010975:Platelet Aggregation Inhibitors; D055553:Prescription Drugs; D014859:Warfarin; D001241:Aspirin