Efficacy and safety of antiarrhythmic drugs for pharmacological cardioversion of atrial fibrillation depending on gender: a subanalysis of CANT II Study

Abstract Background/introduction The data on gender differences concerning antiarrhythmic drugs (AAD) applied in atrial fibrillation (AF) patients is scarce. Purpose The aim of the study was to evaluate gender differences in terms of clinical profile of AF patients, and efficacy and safety of AAD used for pharmacological cardioversion (PCV) of AF. Methods This research was a sub-analysis of retrospective multicenter Cardioversion with ANTazoline II (CANT) registry, which comprised 1365 patients with short-duration AF referred for urgent PCV with the use of AAD. Patients were categorized in terms of gender and compared in terms of clinical parameters and outcome of PCV. The primary endpoint was return of sinus rhythm within 12 hours after drug infusion and the composite safety endpoint involved bradycardia