very late effects of postoperative atrial fibrillation on outcome of coronary artery bypass graft surgery

background: atrial fibrillation (af) after coronary artery bypass graft (cabg) is a common complication with potentially higher risk of adverse outcome and prolonged hospital stay. objective: to determine the impact of postoperative af (poaf) on long-term outcome in a large cohort of patients who underwent cabg. patients and methods: we conducted an observational cohort study of 989 patients who underwent isolated cabg with more than 5-year follow-up. patient divided in two groups: patients with and without poaf. results: in this study, atrial fibrillation developed after cabg in 156 patients (15.8%). patients with poaf were generally older (p = 0.001) and presented more often with comorbidities including congestive heart failure (p = 0.001), hypertension (p = 0.001), peripheral vascular disease (p = 0.001), hyperlipidemia (p = 0.009), and renal failure (p = 0.001). five-year mortality was observed in 23 (2.3%) patients. patients with poaf had higher five-year mortality rate than those without poaf. multivariate logistic analysis showed that af after surgery has a strong effect on mortality (hr, 3.3; 95% ci, 0.04-10.8, p = 0.04) and morbidity rates (hr, 4.0; 95% ci, 2.35-6.96, p = 0.001). conclusions: postoperative atrial fibrillation strongly predicts higher long-term mortality and morbidity following coronary artery bypass graft.