One-Year Outcomes of Emergency Department Patients With Atrial Fibrillation: A Prospective, Multicenter Registry in China

There is lack of data about patient characteristics, practice patterns, and long-term adverse outcomes in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) attending emergency departments (EDs) in China. A total of 2016 patients from 20 representative EDs were included. During 1 year, all-cause mortality was 291 (14.6%) cases, stroke/noncentral nervous system systemic embolism rate was 159 (8.0%) cases, and major bleeding was 26 (1.3%) cases. Heart failure, the major cause of mortality, accounted for 43.0% of deaths. Of 375 (18.6%) patients who used warfarin at baseline, only 217 (57.9%) patients were still on anticoagulation therapy during 1-year follow-up. Compared with the patients who continued on warfarin, the mortality rate was higher in those who did not continue (15.9% vs 5.5%, P < .001). Patients seen in ED with AF appear to have a high incidence rate of long-term all-cause mortality and inadequate anticoagulation rate.

Source: Angiology - August 12, 2015 Category: Cardiology Authors: Yang, Y.-M., Shao, X.-H., Zhu, J., Zhang, H., Liu, Y., Gao, X., Yu, L.-T., Liu, L.-S., Zhao, L., Yu, P.-F., Zhang, H., He, Q., Gu, X.-D. Tags: Atrial Fibrillation Source Type: research