[Does a woman's heart beat faster?]

Recent publications have identified a different epidemiological prevalence related to sex in some of the most common supraventricular and ventricular arrhythmias. This fact is attributed to the effect of sex hormones on myocardial cell electrophysiology. Women, in particular, have a higher prevalence than males with regard to intranodal reentrant tachycardia, idiopathic monomorphic ventricular tachycardia and ventricular arrhythmias in congenital or acquired long QT syndrome. A higher incidence in females with regard to complications during atrial fibrillation has also been reported. This paper examines data from the literature regarding gender differences in the prevalence of the most common arrhythmias, the causes of these differences, and some discriminating aspects related to female sex in the architecture of published clinical studies.