137-01: Gender Differences in the Rates of Hospitalizations for Acute Ischemic Stroke Among Patients with Atrial Fibrillation In The United States: A 15 Year Experience Involving 1.1 Million Patients

Introduction: Observational evidence show that women with atrial fibrillation (AF) have sub-optimal access to contemporary, evidence-based treatment options. However, it is unknown whether a gender disparity exists in the rates of hospitalizations for acute ischemic stroke (AIS) among patients with AF. In this retrospective cohort study we assessed gender differences in hospitalization rates for AIS among patients with AF. Methods: National Inpatient Sample (NIS), a publically available dataset from the United States of America, reports data on 8 million hospitalizations from ∼ 1000 hospitals from 46 states. From this, we abstracted data on 1.1 million patients with AF hospitalized from 1998 - 2012 (AF cohort) and assessed gender differences in hospitalization rates for AIS compared over 3 periods: 1998 - 2002, 2003 - 2007 and 2008 - 2012. Results: Hospitalization rates for AIS were significantly higher in women than men (W: 2.64% vs M: 2.15%) (P < 0.001) in the AF cohort. Temporal trends over the 15 year period (1998 - 2012) consistently showed higher hospitalization rates for AIS in women compared to men. Multi-variate logistic regression analysis [(adjusted for age, diabetes diagnosis (DM), hypertension diagnosis (HTN), old stroke and heart failure diagnosis (HF)] showed significantly higher odds of hospitalizations for AIS in women compared to men in all the 3 time periods. Conclusions: Our analysis suggests that women have consistently had an increased probability of hospitalization for AIS compared to men for the last 15 years in the United States. Further efforts should focus on identifying the reasons for this gender disparity and promoting strategies aimed at reducing this gender gap. baseline characteristics and gender specific hospitalization rates for AIS *represent significant difference (P < 0.05)