Left atrial appendage occlusion with the Watchman device is approved to manage nonvalvular atrial fibrillation and prevent stroke in patients with contraindications to anticoagulation. This study aimed to analyze the National Inpatient Sample (NIS) data to evaluate gender disparities and further assess its impact on medical decision-making. The NIS data for 16,505 patients who underwent left atrial appendage occlusion with the Watchman device from 2016 to 2017 was used to perform a cross-sectional analysis. The primary end point was risk-adjusted in-hospital mortality. The study included 9,825 men and 6,680 women. Male patients were younger than female patients (mean age of 75.3 years vs 76.3 years, p <0.001). The observed in-hospital mortality was higher in female patients (0.3% vs 0.1%, p = 0.003). This remained significant after adjustment for baseline confounders (adjusted odds ratio 2.9, 95% confidence interval 1.4 to 6.3, p = 0.005). In conclusion, analysis of the large pool of NIS data reveals that female patients have relatively worse in-hospital outcomes in terms of mortality, length of stay, and total hospitalization cost than male patients who underwent Watchman device implantation. However, these disparities are not enough to impact the medical decision-making process and to defer the use of the Watchman device in female patients.
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