Does atrial fibrillation increase fatality, recurrence, and functional deficits in patients with ischemic stroke compared to non-AF stroke?
Ischemic strokes in patients with atrial fibrillation are significantly more fatal, recurrent, and disabling than non-AF strokes, highlighting the critical need for embolic prevention.
Ischemic stroke associated with AF was nearly twice as likely to be fatal as non-AF stroke. Recurrence was more frequent, and functional deficits were more likely to be severe among survivors. Since stroke is usually the initial manifestation of embolism in AF, prevention is critical to reducing disability and mortality.
Lin et al. (Tue,) studied this question.