{"id":16336,"date":"2022-09-01T09:45:19","date_gmt":"2022-09-01T09:45:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/interhospi.com\/?p=16336"},"modified":"2022-09-02T10:13:01","modified_gmt":"2022-09-02T10:13:01","slug":"sex-differences-and-afib-new-study-flips-conventional-wisdom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/interhospi.com\/sex-differences-and-afib-new-study-flips-conventional-wisdom\/","title":{"rendered":"Sex differences and AFib: New study flips conventional wisdom"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Sex differences and AFib: New study flips conventional wisdom<\/h1>\/ in E-News<\/a> <\/span><\/span><\/header>\n<\/div><\/section>
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Science has long shown that men are at greater risk for developing atrial fibrillation (AFib) than women; but it has never been fully understood why women would be protected from developing the condition. New research from the Smidt Heart Institute at Cedars-Sinai challenges this conventional wisdom by demonstrating that women \u2013 when height is accounted for \u2013 have a 50% higher risk of developing the abnormal heart rhythm disturbance when compared to men.
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reviewed journal JAMA Cardiology [1], suggest medical practitioners must remain vigilant in promoting AFib prevention \u2013 and early interventions \u2013 among both female and male patients.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/section>
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\u201cThis is the first study to show an actual flip in the risk of atrial fibrillation,\u201d said Christine Albert, MD, MPH, chair of the Department of Cardiology in the Smidt Heart Institute and senior author of the JAMA Cardiology study. Albert also led the national VITAL Rhythm Trial upon which these findings are based. \u201cIn this population of 25,000 individuals without prior heart disease, after adjusting for differences in height, women were at higher risk for developing AF than their male counterparts \u2013 upward of 50%.\u201d As Albert explains, the taller an individual is, the more at risk they are for AFib. This is why women have been shown to have a lower risk of the disease, since they tend to be shorter than men.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur study, however, surprisingly suggests that if a man and a woman have the same height, the woman would be more likely to develop AFib,\u201d said Albert. \u201cNow the question has changed: Instead of why are women protected, now we must seek to understand why women are at a higher risk.\u201d Atrial fibrillation is the most common type of abnormal heart rhythm and, without treatment, can lead to stroke or heart failure. Once a woman is diagnosed with AFib, she is more likely to experience one of these adverse consequences than a man, making AFib prevention exceedingly important in women.<\/p>\n

Patients diagnosed with the condition can be treated with blood thinners and outpatient procedures such as cardioversion or ablation, or heart surgery, but women are less likely to undergo invasive treatments for AFib such as ablation. It\u2019s estimated that by the year 2030, more than 12.1 million Americans will have the condition. Albert notes that as the general population increases in size \u2013 both in height and weight \u2013 cardiologists can expect that more individuals will be diagnosed with atrial fibrillation.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith incidence on the rise, it\u2019s more imperative than ever to be offering preventive strategies and early diagnostic interventions to all patients,\u201d said Albert, professor of Cardiology at Cedars-Sinai and the Lee and Harold Kapelovitz Distinguished Chair in Cardiology.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/section>
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\n1. doi: https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1001\/jamacardio.2022.2825<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section>
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