An American study has found AF feels worse for women, although men are more likely to suffer fatal consequences.
Women were more symptomatic with a poorer quality of life and greater mobility limitations despite similar rates of oral anticoagulation, according to researchers at the Duke Clinical Research Institute, in San Francisco. You could read more about the study here medpagetoday.com/MeetingCov...
How does your experience compare with these findings?
Though interesting, this study is only at the one year point so longer term outcomes may vary. Also the study found a 24% greater risk of stroke in women, yet AF has not been tied in to any major increase in other fatal cardiovascular conditions so what conditions were the rise in male cardiovascular fatalities linked to?
I read through the study article and I'm not sure how much weight I would give it. I think that there may have been many external circumstances which could have affected the results. And without knowing how the participants were selected and and the pool that they were drawn from.... It just leaves more questions than answers.
By the looks of it, the study was not designed well. It was a study with an observational design and they did not seem to have adequate measurement of confounding variables. While they had a large cohort, but I think it is a preliminary study that should merits further study with a better design. As far as women reporting more symptoms that interfere with quality of life, I do feel like sometimes women are more in tune with their bodies than men, and maybe more likely to report symptoms they've experienced. As for the differences in meds and treatments, men and women are often treated differently for the same disease, especially when it comes to the heart. This is why I chose my doc at a Women's Heart Center for more focused care.
You might come to that conclusion if you analysed the posts on AFA Forum as there appear to be more ladies who suffer chronic symptoms than men. What must be remembered is that probably more women than men use the forum (many men still want to be macho and work through it) and usually only those in distress go there for support. ERGO the results we see. I doubt this is particularly scientific and in any case what gain? We are all different in the way we experience our condition anyway.. We do know that many ladies are fobbed off by their doctors and told that it is panic attacks and such in the early stages pre proper diagnosis so maybe just another pop at the fairer sex..
76 years old with A F
shortness of breath
3% Afib burden and proposed medication
breathlessness 
