Why the study?
Stroke burden is rising in Sub-Saharan Africa, where atrial fibrillation often linked to rheumatic valvular heart disease is prevalent, but data on AF and acute stroke in this region remain scarce.
A high prevalence of atrial fibrillation (29.1%) was found among acute stroke patients in Ethiopia, with 94.7% of cases newly diagnosed at presentation, highlighting a critical need for systematic AF screening programs.
Supports AF screening in Sub-Saharan stroke patients; leaves open prospective data on anticoagulation outcomes.
BACKGROUND: Stroke prevalence and disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) lost are rising in Sub-Saharan Africa, where atrial fibrillation (AF) commonly associated with rheumatic valvular heart disease is prevalent. Despite this, there is a paucity of data regarding the association between atrial fibrillation and acute stroke in this region. OBJECTIVE: To assess the prevalence of atrial fibrillation and associated factors in acute stroke patients admitted to public referral hospitals from 2020 to 2023, Bahir Dar, Ethiopia. METHODS: Institution based retrospective cross-sectional study was conducted, using sample size of 326, among acute stroke patients who were admitted to two public hospitals, from January 2020 to December 2023, Bahir Dar, Ethiopia. Pre-developed check list was used to extract data from the medical registry. Data were entered using Epi data manager version 4.6 and analyzed using SPSS version 27. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used, considering a p-value of < 0.05 as statically significant, with a 95% confidence interval. RESULTS: The proportion of atrial fibrillation among acute stroke patients was 29.1% (95% CI, 24.3-34.4%). The mean age of the participants was 61.63 years [SD ± 16.24]. Age ≥ 65 years (AOR = 4.37, 95% CI 1.618-11.8), hypertension (AOR = 2, 95% CI 1.12-3.5), heart failure (AOR = 4.95, 95% CI 1.7-14.3) and rheumatic heart disease (AOR = 5.7, 95% CI 1.7-18.8) were significant factors associated with atrial fibrillation in acute stroke patients. CONCLUSION: This study found a high prevalence of atrial fibrillation among acute stroke patients, with many cases newly diagnosed at presentation. It recommends targeted policies and screening programs to address atrial fibrillation risk factors, particularly in high-risk groups. Further large-scale research is needed to better understand the association between atrial fibrillation and stroke.
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Mollá et al. (2025) studied this question.
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