BACKGROUND Warfarin therapy is effective for the prevention of stroke in patients with atrial fibrillation. However, warfarin therapy is underutilized even among ideal anticoagulation candidates. The purpose of this study was to examine the use of warfarin in both inpatients and outpatients with atrial fibrillation within a Veterans Affairs (VA) hospital system. METHODS This retrospective med...

Management of atrial fibrillation in the elderly presents unique challenges, including deciding upon the best treatment strategy: rate control versus rhythm control. The decision to pursue one treatment strategy over another is based on understanding the underlying disorder: symptomatology from atrial fibrillation itself versus symptoms due to a rapid ventricular response from atrial fibrillati...

AIM We aimed to investigate whether different measures of obesity could similarly predict atrial fibrillation, and whether the atrial fibrillation risk associated with obesity is dependent on presence of metabolic syndrome. MATERIAL AND METHODS We performed our study in a population-based longitudinal cardiovascular study, comprising 1 924 men and 2 097 women, aged 60 years, from Stockholm. B...

BACKGROUND The development of new-onset atrial fibrillation in sepsis has been associated with adverse outcomes. METHODS A systematic literature search was conducted to retrieve articles that investigated the association of new-onset atrial fibrillation in patients diagnosed with sepsis. The primary outcome of interest was the pooled risk ratio (RR) of in-hospital mortality in patients with n...

INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVE Atrial fibrillation is the most common arrhythmia seen in clinical practice. The objective of this study was to know the frequency of atrial fibrillation and the characteristics of patients with atrial fibrillation in the Cardiotens study. MATERIAL AND METHOD A cross-section study with systematic selection of the study sample. All 32,051 outpatients seen on the same...

AIMS Idiopathic atrial fibrillation describes atrial fibrillation of unknown origin occurring without heart disease. Mortality is considered unaffected by idiopathic atrial fibrillation. We used the long follow-up period (23 years on average) of the Paris Prospective Study I to assess the mortality of idiopathic atrial fibrillation subjects in middle-aged men. METHODS 7746 working Frenchmen, ...

drug therapy, but not so after adjustment for left ventricular ejection fraction, left atrial diameter or duration of atrial fibrillation. We feel that our results justify the conclusion that “patients who undergo electrical cardioversion display a greater degree and longer duration of mechanical atrial dysfunction than those who convert pharmacologically or spontaneously” (1). We agree with Fa...

OBJECTIVE We prospectively tested the hypothesis that atrial enlargement and increased level of atrial natriuretic peptide, N-terminal atrial natriuretic peptide and brain natriuretic peptide would predict atrial fibrillation after coronary artery bypass grafting. METHODS Eighty-eight elective coronary artery bypass grafting patients had preoperative echocardiographic assessment. The level of...

The management of atrial fibrillation involves control of the ventricular response rate, anticoagulation to reduce the risk of stroke and attempts to maintain sinus rhythm. The approach to patients with atrial fibrillation has become increasingly complex as therapeutic options have expanded. The ultimate reasons to treat atrial fibrillation include improvement in symptoms, reduction in adverse ...

OBJECTIVES This study sought to examine the long-term outcomes of patients hospitalized with heart failure and atrial fibrillation. BACKGROUND Atrial fibrillation is common among patients hospitalized with heart failure. Associations of pre-existing and new-onset atrial fibrillation with long-term outcomes are unclear. METHODS We analyzed 27,829 heart failure admissions between 2006 and 200...