Abstract: Female gender is an independent risk factor for the development of torsade de pointes (TdP) arrhythmias not only in congenital long QT syndromes（LQTs）but also in acquired long QT syndromes. Clinical evidences imply that sex steroid hormones appear to play important roles in gender differences by affecting the cardiac repolarization process of action potential. This review summarizes the effects of sex hormones on cardiac ion channel currents and the effects of gender differences on drug-induced long QT syndromes, and reveals the mechanism of sex hormone induced arrhythmia by computer simulation

Key words: gonadal steroid hormones, arrhythmias, cardiac, sex factors, myocardial repolarization, review