Women Who Have Ischemic Strokes Have a Higher Burden of Left Atrial Fibrosis Than Men

Background and Purpose— Women with atrial fibrillation (AF) have a higher risk of stroke than men who have AF. Atrial fibrosis is a marker of atrial disease that precedes the appearance of AF increasing the risk of ischemic stroke. We aimed to determine whether female sex is independently associated with left atrial fibrosis in stroke patients. Methods— We prospectively included a consecutive sample of ischemic stroke patients aged over 50 years of age. Late gadolinium enhancement cardiac magnetic resonance imaging was performed to quantify the severity of left atrial fibrosis and the wall pattern of its distribution. A multivariable linear regression analysis was performed to determine whether female sex was independently associated with left atrial fibrosis after adjusting for potential confounders namely AF and age. Results— One hundred twenty-four patients were deemed eligible; 117 patients were included (7 were excluded because of cardiomyopathy identified by cardiac magnetic resonance imaging). All ...