What are the predictors and prognostic implications of incident heart failure in patients with first-diagnosed atrial fibrillation and structurally normal hearts?
In patients with first-diagnosed AF and structurally normal hearts, subtle echocardiographic changes and comorbidities predict incident HF, which drives adverse outcomes.
Underlying co-morbidities or subtle alterations such as mild left atrial dilatation or low-normal LVEF in the absence of overt underlying heart disease are baseline independent risk factors for incident HF during a long-term follow-up. Incident HF was an independent predictor of adverse outcomes in patients initially diagnosed with first-diagnosed AF and structurally normal hearts. These findings could facilitate the identification of AF patients at increased risk for adverse outcomes within the cohort perceived as being at 'low risk' given a structurally normal heart on echocardiography.
Potpara et al. (Thu,) studied this question.
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