Five-year mortality in men and women with atrial fibrillation

Objective - Five-year mortality in men and women with atrial fibrillation (AF). Design - A follow-up of the medical records of patients with AF registered on September 30, 1993. Setting - One community health centre in Stockholm County. Subjects - 129 patients (76 men and 53 women). Main outcome measures - Observed and expected, age- and sexstandardised, 5-year mortality rates. Significant risk factors by multiple logistic regression. Results - Women had a higher mean age (77.5 vs 72.8 years) and more often suffered from heart failure and hypothyreosis. Five-year mortality rate for men was 30% vs expected 27% in Sweden and 24% in the community; for women it was 43% vs expected 29% (p <; 0.05) and 23% in the community (p <; 0.001), i.e. an excess mortality of 49% and 88%, respectively. Significant factors predicting death by logistic regression among women were: age (odds ratio 1.39, p < 0.001), levothyroxine treatment (odds ratio 27.87, p <; 0.05) and diabetes (odds ratio 20.75, p <; 0.05). Conclusions - AF is related to an excess sex- and age-standardised, 5-year mortality in women but not in men, with levothyroxine treatment as one significant factor.