Key result
Symptomatic AF in ED patients is linked to ~150% higher short-term mortality versus the general population.
Why the study?
Mortality data for non-critically ill patients presenting with symptomatic atrial fibrillation to an emergency department are scarce.
Does symptomatic atrial fibrillation increase short-term mortality in non-critically ill patients presenting to the emergency department compared to the general population?
Cohort (n=1,754)
No
Does symptomatic atrial fibrillation increase short-term mortality in non-critically ill patients presenting to the emergency department compared to the general population?
Non-critically ill patients presenting to the emergency department with symptomatic atrial fibrillation have a 2.4 to 2.5-fold higher short-term mortality compared to the general population.
Answers are grounded in this paper and cite their sources.
Non-critically ill ED patients with symptomatic AF had higher short-term mortality; hypothesis-generating association that requires prospective confirmation before informing care.
BACKGROUND: Mortality data of non-critically ill patients presenting with symptomatic atrial fibrillation to an emergency department are scarce. We aimed to analyze the short-term mortality of these patients compared with that of the general Austrian population. DESIGN/METHODS: This study analyzed a consecutive series of non-critically ill adults presenting to the emergency department at the Medical University of Vienna between 2012 and 2016 with complaints related to atrial fibrillation. The study outcome was mortality during the observation period. Age-specific and sex-specific mortality rates per 100 person-years were calculated and compared with the mortality rates of the Austrian population during the same period. RESULTS: In total, 1754 patients with atrial fibrillation (43.1% female) were included in the study. During a median follow-up of 25 months, 248 of these patients died. Observed mortality rates were 7.8 per 100 person-years for females (95% confidence interval, CI 6.6-9.5) and 5.9 per 100 person-years for males (95% CI 5.0-7.1). Age-adjusted and sex-adjusted mortality rates were 2.8 (95% CI 2.3-3.3) and 2.7 (95% CI 2.2-3.2) per 100 person-years, respectively. Mortality rates for the Austrian population were 1.1 per 100 person-years for both females and males. Corresponding standardized mortality ratios were 2.5 for females (95% CI 2.1-3.0) and 2.4 for males (95% CI 2.0-2.9). CONCLUSION: The short-term mortality of patients with symptomatic atrial fibrillation presenting to the emergency department was substantially higher compared with the general Austrian population.
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Niederdöckl et al. (2021) conducted a cohort in Symptomatic atrial fibrillation (n=1,754). Emergency department presentation with symptomatic atrial fibrillation vs. General Austrian population was evaluated on Mortality during the observation period (SMR 2.5 (females), 2.4 (males), 95% CI 2.1-3.0 (females), 2.0-2.9 (males), p=<0.001). Non-critically ill patients presenting to the emergency department with symptomatic atrial fibrillation had a significantly higher short-term mortality compared to the general population (SMR 2.5 for females, 2.4 for males).
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