Treatment guidelines for atrial fibrillation (AF) used in Western countries describe female gender as a risk factor for thromboembolic events in patients with nonvalvular AF (NVAF). The present study aimed to determine the impact of gender on prognosis of Japanese patients with NVAF. A subanalysis of 7,406 patients with NVAF (mean age 70 years) who were followed-up prospectively for 2 years was performed using data from the J-RHYTHM registry. The primary end points were thromboembolic events, major hemorrhaging, total mortality, and cardiovascular mortality. Compared with male subjects (n = 5,241), female subjects (n = 2,165) were older and displayed greater prevalences of paroxysmal AF, heart failure, and hypertension but less prevalences of diabetes, previous cerebral infarction, and coronary artery disease. Male and female patients had mean CHADS2 (Congestive heart failure, Hypertension, Age of 75 years or more, Diabetes mellitus and prior Stroke or transient ischemic attack) scores of 1.6 and 1.8, respectively (p <0.001). Warfarin was given to 87% of male patients and 86% of female patients (p = 0.760), and the 2 genders displayed similar mean international normalized ratio of prothrombin time values at baseline (1.91 vs 1.90, respectively, p = 0.756). Multivariate logistic regression analysis indicated that male gender was an independent risk factor for major hemorrhaging (odds ratio 1.59, 95% confidence interval 1.05 to 2.40, p = 0.027) and all-cause mortality (odds ratio 1.78, 95% confidence interval 1.25 to 2.55, p <0.002) but not for thromboembolic events (odds ratio 1.24, 95% confidence interval 0.83 to 1.86, p = 0.297) or cardiovascular mortality (odds ratio 0.96, 95% confidence interval 0.56 to 1.66, p = 0.893). In conclusion, female gender is not a risk factor for thromboembolic events among Japanese patients with NVAF who were treated mostly with warfarin. However, male gender is a risk factor for major hemorrhaging and all-cause mortality.
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