IMR Press / RCM / Volume 25 / Issue 3 / DOI: 10.31083/j.rcm2503092
Open Access Original Research
Gender Differences in Patients with Atrial Fibrillation Receiving Oral Anticoagulants
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1 Division of Cardiology, Department of Medicine, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, 11217 Taipei, Taiwan
2 Institute of Clinical Medicine, and Cardiovascular Research Center, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, 30010 Taipei, Taiwan
3 Women’s Heart Section, Cardiovascular Center, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, 11217 Taipei, Taiwan
4 Institute of Public Health and School of Medicine, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, 30010 Taipei, Taiwan.
5 Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, 11217 Taipei, Taiwan
6 Department of Family Medicine, Taipei Veterans General Hospital Hsinchu Branch, 31064 Zhudong, Taiwan
7 Cardiovascular Center, Taichung Veterans General Hospital, 40705 Taichung, Taiwan
*Correspondence: eyckeyck@gmail.com (Tze-Fan Chao)
These authors contributed equally.
Rev. Cardiovasc. Med. 2024, 25(3), 92; https://doi.org/10.31083/j.rcm2503092
Submitted: 16 September 2023 | Revised: 31 December 2023 | Accepted: 4 January 2024 | Published: 6 March 2024
Copyright: © 2024 The Author(s). Published by IMR Press.
This is an open access article under the CC BY 4.0 license.
Abstract

Background: Gender is a well-recognized risk factor in atrial fibrillation (AF)-related ischemic stroke. The association of gender with the use of oral anticoagulants (OACs) and prognosis remains unknown. Methods: The National Health Insurance Research Database in Taiwan identified 203,775 patients with AF aged 20 years from 2012 to 2018, with 55.4% of males. Our main study cohort included 67,426 patients using OACs. The study endpoints include death, ischemic stroke, intracranial hemorrhage, major bleeding, and composite adverse events. Results: Significant differences were found in baseline characteristics between sexes. Female patients with AF were older and had higher CHA2DS2-VASc and HAS-BLED scores. Non-vitamin K antagonist oral anticoagulant (NOAC) use was more prominent in females while the use of warfarin was similar in both sexes. The distribution of baseline characteristics between the warfarin and NOAC groups in both sexes was much alike. Among the whole study cohort, NOAC was associated with a decreased risk of clinical endpoints compared to warfarin, which remained the same in subgroup analyses of both sexes. Additionally, a greater risk reduction of ischemic stroke with NOAC was observed in female patients compared to male patients (adjusted hazard ratio: 0.517 in males, 0.425 in females, interaction p = 0.040). Conclusions: This nationwide cohort demonstrated the differences between male and female patients with AF, including baseline characteristics, risk profiles, and medication use. Despite great differences in baseline demographic data, NOAC was associated with better clinical outcomes compared to warfarin in both sexes, and females benefited more than males in preventing ischemic stroke using NOACs.

Keywords
atrial fibrillation
NOAC
gender difference
Funding
MOST 110-2314-B-075-059/National Science Council
MOST 111-2314-B-075-004-MY2/National Science Council
V111C-020/Taipei Veterans General Hospital
V112C-019/Taipei Veterans General Hospital
V111B-035/Taipei Veterans General Hospital
V112B-002/Taipei Veterans General Hospital
Figures
Fig. 1.
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