Gender differences exist in cellular and clinical cardiac electrophysiology. Sex hormones might contribute to these disparities which could affect the epidemiology, presentation, clinical course, therapy response and prognosis of various arrhythmias in women and men. There is obvious gender-specific phenotypic heterogeneity in inherited arrhythmias. Female gender is associated with a higher risk of lethal cardiac events among patients with congenital long QT syndrome. In contrast, female is less prevalent in Brugada syndrome and has less frequent cardiac events. Women are also much easier to have QT intervals prolongation in response to antiarrhythmic drugs, suffer anecdotally more procedural complications during catheter ablation or implantable device therapy for arrhythmias, and have a higher risk of stroke when atrial fibrillation occurs. Additionally, there is an increased risk of arrhythmias during pregnancy and conventional treatment strategies could be largely limited in this scenario.
Understanding and awareness of important gender-specific pathophysiologic differences may help facilitate arrhythmia diagnosis and provide appropriate therapeutic decisions in women, thus improving their clinical outcomes. In this Research Topic, we would like to create a forum for current advances on molecular mechanisms and clinical practice in association to arrhythmias in women.
We welcome submissions on the following topics, but are not limited to:
- New insights into potential mechanisms of gender differences in basic and clinical cardiac electrophysiology
- Epidemiology, clinical characteristics and outcomes of female patients with inherited or acquired arrhythmias
- Sex differences in cancer-associated arrhythmias
- Sex differences in atrial fibrillation risk
- Association of female gender with atrial fibrillation recurrence after catheter ablation
- Gender differences in safety and effectiveness of left atrial appendage occlusion
- Gender differences in safety and effectiveness of atrial fibrillation catheter ablation
- The safety and effectiveness of catheter ablation and/or device implantation with zero or minimal fluoroscopy during pregnancy
Gender differences exist in cellular and clinical cardiac electrophysiology. Sex hormones might contribute to these disparities which could affect the epidemiology, presentation, clinical course, therapy response and prognosis of various arrhythmias in women and men. There is obvious gender-specific phenotypic heterogeneity in inherited arrhythmias. Female gender is associated with a higher risk of lethal cardiac events among patients with congenital long QT syndrome. In contrast, female is less prevalent in Brugada syndrome and has less frequent cardiac events. Women are also much easier to have QT intervals prolongation in response to antiarrhythmic drugs, suffer anecdotally more procedural complications during catheter ablation or implantable device therapy for arrhythmias, and have a higher risk of stroke when atrial fibrillation occurs. Additionally, there is an increased risk of arrhythmias during pregnancy and conventional treatment strategies could be largely limited in this scenario.
Understanding and awareness of important gender-specific pathophysiologic differences may help facilitate arrhythmia diagnosis and provide appropriate therapeutic decisions in women, thus improving their clinical outcomes. In this Research Topic, we would like to create a forum for current advances on molecular mechanisms and clinical practice in association to arrhythmias in women.
We welcome submissions on the following topics, but are not limited to:
- New insights into potential mechanisms of gender differences in basic and clinical cardiac electrophysiology
- Epidemiology, clinical characteristics and outcomes of female patients with inherited or acquired arrhythmias
- Sex differences in cancer-associated arrhythmias
- Sex differences in atrial fibrillation risk
- Association of female gender with atrial fibrillation recurrence after catheter ablation
- Gender differences in safety and effectiveness of left atrial appendage occlusion
- Gender differences in safety and effectiveness of atrial fibrillation catheter ablation
- The safety and effectiveness of catheter ablation and/or device implantation with zero or minimal fluoroscopy during pregnancy