Representation of Women in Atrial Fibrillation Clinical Practice Guidelines

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common arrhythmia in men and women worldwide, and its prevalence is increasing. Management of AF is guided by evidence-based clinical practice guidelines which provide recommendations based on available evidence. The extent of sex-specific data in the AF literature used to provide guideline recommendations has not been investigated. Therefore, using the 2020 Canadian Cardiovascular Society (CCS) AF management guidelines as an example, the purpose of this study was to review female representation and the reporting of sex-disaggregated data in the studies referenced in AF guidelines.

Randomised controlled trials (RCTs) and prospective and retrospective cohorts were screened to calculate the proportion of study participants who were female and to establish whether studies provided sex-disaggregated analyses. The participant-prevalence ratio (PPR), a quotient of the female participant rate and the prevalence of women in the AF population, was calculated for each study.

A total of 885 studies included in the CCS guidelines were considered. Of those, 467 met the inclusion criteria. Overall, women represented 39.1% of the population over all of the studies and RCTs had the lowest proportions of women (33.8%, PPR 0.70). Of studies with sex-disaggregated analyses (n = 140; 29.9%), single-centre RCTs and retrospective cohorts had the lowest and highest rates of sex-specific analyses, respectively (11.5% and 32.5%).

The evidence used to derive guideline recommendations may be inadequate for sex-specific recommendations. Until enough data can support women-specific guidelines, increased inclusion of females in AF studies, may aid in the precision of recommendations.