Symptom Severity and Health-Related Quality of Life in Patients with Atrial Fibrillation: Findings from the Observational ARENA Study
Key result
Female sex is linked to an almost fourfold increase in severe AF symptoms.
- OR 3.7
- P<0.001
- n=1,218
Why the study?
Atrial fibrillation is associated with impaired health-related quality of life and high symptom severity, and both clinical and psychological factors may contribute to these outcomes.
Population
1218 AF patients
Comparison
Assessment of medical and psychosocial factors associated with symptom severity and HRQoL
Design
Observational study
Authors
Discussion
Loading...
Member takes
Implication
Highlights female sex, CAD, and anxiety as AF symptom correlates; hypothesis-generating, needs prospective validation before informing care.
Study Design
Type
Observational (n=1,218)
Multicenter
Yes
Structured PICO
P
Population
1,218 adults with atrial fibrillation from the observational ARENA study, assessed at baseline for medical and psychosocial factors associated with symptom severity and health-related quality of life.
O
Outcome
AF-related symptom severity assessed by the European Heart Rhythm Association (EHRA) symptom classification and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) assessed by the 5-level EuroQoL-5D (EQ-5D-5L)patient reported
Main Result
Odds Ratio: 3.7
p-value: p=<0.001
Psychosocial factors, including generalized and cardiac anxiety, as well as preexisting CAD and diabetes, are significantly associated with higher symptom severity and impaired quality of life in patients with atrial fibrillation.
Limitations
- Cross-sectional design prevents the identification of causal relationships
- Absence of a comparator group of participants without AF
- Measurement of HRQoL using a generic scale (EQ-5D-5L) rather than an AF-specific one
- Lack of a measure for depression
- Did not adjust statistical analyses for all important clinical AF factors (e.g., use of oral anticoagulation)
- Analyzed subset showed several differences from the excluded population, indicating potential selection bias
- cross-sectional design (prevents identification of causal relationships)
- absence of a comparator group of participants without AF
- measurement of HRQoL using a generic scale (EQ-5D-5L) rather than an AF-specific one
- no measure of depression
- did not adjust statistical analyses for all important clinical AF factors (e.g., use of oral anticoagulation)
- analyzed subset showed several differences from the excluded population
Cite This Study
Sadlonova et al. (2022) conducted an observational in Atrial Fibrillation (n=1,218). Female sex (and other medical/psychosocial factors) vs. Male sex (and absence of factors) was evaluated on Higher AF-related symptom severity (EHRA class) (OR 3.7, p=<0.001). Female sex (OR 3.7), preexisting coronary artery disease (OR 1.7), and psychological factors like cardiac anxiety were significantly associated with higher atrial fibrillation-related symptom severity.