Gender differences related to the presence of atrial fibrillation in older hypertensive patients

AIM: To determine whether there are gender differences in the epidemiological profile of atrial fibrillation (AF) and to characterise the clinical, biochemical, and therapeutic factors associated with AF. METHODS: Each investigator (primary care physicians or physicians based in hospital units for hypertension treatment) recruited the first 3 patients with an age of ≥ 65 years and a clinical diagnosis of hypertension (ambulatory blood pressure monitoring and an electrocardiogram, were performed) on the first working day of the week for 5 wk and identified those individu-als with atrial fibrillation. A binary logistic regression was performed, including all of the variables that were significant in the univariate analysis, to establish the variables that were associated with the presence of arrhythmia. RESULTS: A total of 1028 patients were included in the study, with a mean age of 72.8 ± 5.8 years. Of these patients, 47.3% were male, 9% were smokers, 27.6% were diabetics, 48.3% had dyslipidaemia, 10.9% had angina, and 6.5% had experienced a myocardial infarction. Regarding gender differences, the men exhibited a larger waist circumference, a lower body mass index, less obesity, and a more extensive history of diabetes, smoking, ischaemic heart disease, kidney failure, peripheral arterial disease and carotid disease than the women. There were no differences, however, in the prevalence of AF between the men and the women (11.5% vs 9.2%, respectively; P = no significant). Regarding treatment, the women received antiplatelet agents and diuretics less frequently, but there were no other differences in the use of antihypertensive and antithrombotic therapies. In the multivariate analysis, AF in the total study population was associated with age, alcohol consumption, the presence of heart disease, and decreased glomerular filtration. In the women, AF was associated with all of the factors included in the overall analysis, as well as the presence of left ventricle hypertrophy. In contrast, in the men, the only risk factors associated with AF were age, the presence of heart disease and alcohol consumption. CONCLUSION: In patients with hypertension over 65 years of age, there are relevant gender differences in the factors associated with AF.