Assessment of etiological, clinical and echocardiographic profile of cases with atrial fibrillation

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is commonly encountered cardiac arrhythmia accounting for one-third of the total admissions for cardiac rhythm disturbances and is associated with significant morbidity and mortality. Echocardiography is the best method to find out the causes for the development of atrial fibrillation. This study was aimed to assess the clinical and echocardiographic profile of atrial fibrillation and its associated complications. A total of 120 cases of both genders (males 62 & females 58), clinically diagnosed with atrial fibrillation between age group 21-70 years were recruited. Study participants were subjected to detailed physical, systemic, radiological (chest X-ray PA view, transthoracic ECG) and laboratory investigations (blood glucose, thyroid function tests). Majority cases were in belonging to 4th and 5th decades of age. Dyspnea (90) was a common symptom followed by palpitation (39), fatigue (18), chest pain (10) and syncope (5). The CHA2DS2-VASc score was above 2 in 64.1%, which indicates a high risk for stroke occurrence. Among 54 RHD cases, 44.4% cases had mitral stenosis, followed by MS+MR in 24.07%, MS+AS+AR in 14.8% cases, MS+MR+AS+AR in 7.40% cases and S/P MVR in 9.25% cases. Rheumatic heart disease (45%) is the most common etiological factor associated with atrial fibrillation followed by hypertension (23.3%) and coronary artery disease (18.3%). The Left atrial enlargement was seen in study participants and a structural abnormality in echocardiography was observed.