scholarly journals Atrial fibrillation after stroke in the elderly.

Stroke ◽  
1991 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 209-214 ◽  
Author(s):  
P J Friedman
2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (16) ◽  
pp. 5717 ◽  
Author(s):  
Estefanía Lozano-Velasco ◽  
Diego Franco ◽  
Amelia Aranega ◽  
Houria Daimi

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is known to be the most common supraventricular arrhythmia affecting up to 1% of the general population. Its prevalence exponentially increases with age and could reach up to 8% in the elderly population. The management of AF is a complex issue that is addressed by extensive ongoing basic and clinical research. AF centers around different types of disturbances, including ion channel dysfunction, Ca2+-handling abnormalities, and structural remodeling. Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have uncovered over 100 genetic loci associated with AF. Most of these loci point to ion channels, distinct cardiac-enriched transcription factors, as well as to other regulatory genes. Recently, the discovery of post-transcriptional regulatory mechanisms, involving non-coding RNAs (especially microRNAs), DNA methylation, and histone modification, has allowed to decipher how a normal heart develops and which modifications are involved in reshaping the processes leading to arrhythmias. This review aims to provide a current state of the field regarding the identification and functional characterization of AF-related epigenetic regulatory networks


2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhaojie Dong ◽  
Xin Du ◽  
Shangxin Lu ◽  
Chao Jiang ◽  
Shijun Xia ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) underwent a high risk of hospitalization, which has not been paid much attention to in practice. Therefore, we aimed to assess the incidence, causes and predictors of hospitalization in AF patients. Methods From August 2011 to December 2017, a total number of 20,172 AF patients from the Chinese Atrial Fibrillation Registry (China-AF) Study were prospectively selected for this study. We described the incidence, causes of hospitalization by age groups and sex. The Fine-Gray competing risk model was employed to identify predictors of first all-cause and first cause-specific hospitalization. Results After a mean follow-up of 37.3 ± 20.4 months, 7,512 (37.2%) AF patients experienced one or more hospitalizations. The overall incidence of all-cause hospitalization was 24.0 per 100 patient-years. Patients aged < 65 years were predominantly hospitalized for AF (42.1% of the total hospitalizations); while patients aged 65–74 and ≥ 75 years were mainly hospitalized for non-cardiovascular diseases (43.6% and 49.3%, respectively). We found patients complicated with heart failure (HF)[hazard ratio (HR) 1.10, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.02–1.18], established coronary artery disease (CAD) (HR 1.24, 95%CI 1.17–1.33), ischemic stroke/transient ischemic attack (TIA) (HR 1.22, 95%CI 1.15–1.30), diabetes (HR 1.14, 95%CI 1.08–1.20), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) (HR 1.28, 95%CI 1.02–1.62), gastrointestinal disorder (HR 1.37, 95%CI 1.21–1.55), and renal dysfunction (HR 1.24, 95%CI 1.09–1.42) had higher risks of hospitalization. Conclusions More than one-third of AF patients included in this study were hospitalized at least once during over 3-year follow-up. The main cause for hospitalization among the elderly patients (≥ 65 years) is non-cardiovascular diseases rather than AF. Multidisciplinary management of comorbidities should be advocated to reduce hospitalization in AF patients older than 65 years old. Clinical Registryhttp://www.chictr.org.cn/showproj.aspx?proj=5831. Unique identifier: ChiCTR-OCH-13003729. The registration date is October 22, 2013.


Author(s):  
Mintu P Turakhia ◽  
Jason Shafrin ◽  
Katalin Bognar ◽  
Jeffrey B Brown ◽  
Jeffrey Trocio ◽  
...  

Background: Because atrial fibrillation (AF) is often asymptomatic, clinically silent and therefore undiagnosed, the prevalence of AF is difficult to estimate. In fact, ischemic stroke is often the first clinical sign of AF among previously undiagnosed patients. In this study, we estimated the prevalence of undiagnosed AF using a back-calculation approach that relies on the fact that AF causes stroke but causality generally does not run from stroke to AF. Methods: We first estimated the prevalence of diagnosed non-valvular AF in the elderly (65+) and working age (18-64) U.S. population from a 5% Medicare sample and an OptumInsight commercial claims database from 2004-2010 using validated ICD9 algorithms. To estimate the prevalence of undiagnosed non-valvular AF, our back-calculation methodology used two measured inputs: (i) the number of patients who are diagnosed with new non-valvular AF in the current or subsequent quarter after a stroke; (ii) the probability that patients with non-valvular AF have a stroke, based on CHADS2 risk scores. We confirmed calibration by comparing our prevalence estimates of diagnosed AF with prior Medicare and commercial claims analyses. Results: Between 2005 and 2009, the estimated prevalence of AF gradually increased, reaching 9.9% of the elderly U.S. population and 0.88% of the working aged population by 2009. Among the Medicare AF cases in 2009, 11% of these cases (1.1% out of 9.9%) were undiagnosed; among working aged patients with AF, 8% of cases (0.07% out of 0.88%) were undiagnosed. In addition, a large share of the undiagnosed cases was at high risk of stroke. Among the undiagnosed AF cases for elderly and working age adults, 26% and 37%, respectively have a CHADS2 score of 1, and 68% and 26% have a CHADS2 score of 2+. Conclusions: Among elderly and working adult U.S. populations, a substantial proportion of individuals with undiagnosed AF have moderate to high risk of stroke. Screening for AF could favorably impact the disease burden.


Circulation ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 142 (Suppl_3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph Decker ◽  
Wendy Wang ◽  
Faye L Norby ◽  
Romil Parikh ◽  
Jorge L Reyes ◽  
...  

Introduction: The proportions of obese and aging adults are rapidly growing. While obesity and advancing age are associated with atrial fibrillation (AF), data are limited on weight change in the elderly as a risk factor for premature atrial contractions (PACs)—which are known to precede AF—or AF. Hypothesis: Compared to a stable body mass index (BMI) over time, increasing BMI will be associated with a higher PAC frequency and AF in elderly participants in ARIC. Methods: We included N=2,070 ARIC participants [age mean ± SD 79 ± 4.5 years, 59% female] without known AF who attended visit 6 and wore an ambulatory ECG-monitoring device (Zio XT® Patch, iRhythm Technologies Inc.) for ≥48 hours. BMI change was defined as change between V5 (2011-13) and V6 (2016-17) and was categorized into 4 groups: >10% decrease, 2 to 10% decrease, -2 to 2% change (stable BMI) and > 2% increase. PAC frequency was defined as percent of beats that are PACs. Linear regression was used to evaluate the association between BMI change and % PAC. Incident AF was ascertained after V6 through 2018 from hospital discharge codes and death certificates. Logistic regression was used to evaluate the association between BMI change and incident AF. Results: Median PACs per hour were 8.84. Participants with >2% BMI increase had 0.35% (95% CI: 0.06%-0.64%) higher frequency of PACs compared to those with stable BMI after multivariable adjustment (Table). After a mean (SD) follow-up of 19 (7) months, there were 82 incident AF cases. Compared to stable BMI, both >2% BMI increase and 2 to 10% decrease were nonsignificantly associated with higher odds of AF compared with stable BMI after multivariable adjustment (Table). Conclusion: Increasing BMI in the elderly is associated with higher PAC frequency and is nonsignificantly associated with higher odds of AF compared to stable BMI. This finding suggests that weight management, which is currently emphasized in middle age, may also apply in late-life to prevent atrial arrhythmias.


KYAMC Journal ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 8-12
Author(s):  
Achinta Kumar Mallick ◽  
Md Ahmed Ali ◽  
Md Kafiluddin ◽  
Md Parvez Amin ◽  
Pijus Kumar Kundu ◽  
...  

Background: Atrial fibrillation (AF) is a common arrhythmia and a major risk factor for ischemic stroke, especially in the elderly patients. Patients with non-valvular AF have a 5-fold excess risk of stroke recurrence and case-fatality rate.Objectives: This study was to evaluate the prevalence of AF and its influence on prognosis in patients with ischemic stroke.Materials & Methods: Total 125 patients with ischaemic stroke were enrolled in this study. Initially they were divided into two groups by ECG - those with AF and those without AF. They were followed up after one month, three months and six months. Comparison was done between the two groups in term of recurrence, mortality and clinical improvement which were assessed by Modified Rankin Score (MRS).Results: Among 125 patients, 22 patients had AF. Those with AF were more frequently male, aged more than 45 years. Recurrence was significantly higher in AF group during one month follow up (p<0.05). The presence of AF was associated with higher mortality in 3 months (p<0.05) and 6 months (p<0.05) follow up. At 3 months follow up clinical deterioration was noted in 9.1% patient with AF compared to 2.9% patients without AF (p<0.01) and at 6 months follow up clinical deterioration was noted in 18.2% patient with AF compared to 4.9% patients without AF (p<0.01).Conclusion: Patients who had an ischemic stroke with accompanying AF had higher mortality, graver stroke severity, more recurrences and poorer functional status than those without AF.KYAMC Journal Vol. 8, No.-2, Jan 2018, Page 8-12


2018 ◽  
Vol 88 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefano Fumagalli ◽  
Serena Boni ◽  
Simone Pupo ◽  
Marta Migliorini ◽  
Irene Marozzi ◽  
...  

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most frequent arrhythmia in elderly people. Findings derived from clinical trials seem to demonstrate that a rate-control strategy of AF in aged patients improves prognosis if compared to a rhythm-control one. However, epidemiological studies concordantly show that the arrhythmia is associated to increased hospitalization and mortality rates. In last years, the proportion of patients admitted to hospital for AF has progressively increased; this trend is observed in subjects >75 and >85 years, while no change was found in younger cohorts. Importantly, in aged individuals, probably because of the loss of atrial activity, the increase of heart rate and the irregularity of RR intervals, AF begins a vicious cycle, leading from heart failure, through the compromise of functional and neurocognitive status, to overt disability, dementia and increased mortality. Evidence specifically aimed at clarifying the effects of arrhythmia management on outcomes characteristic of aged people is completely lacking. In the elderly, the question regarding the effects of a rate- or a rhythm-control strategy of AF should be considered as an aspect of a more complex strategy, addressed to reduce disability and hospitalizations, and to improve quality of life and survival.


2018 ◽  
Vol 88 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Giovanni Luca Botto ◽  
Carlo Piemontese ◽  
Giovanni Russo

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is a relevant cardiovascular condition that is more prevalent in the elderly patients aged over 65 years. AF, with abnormal rate and rhythm can cause symptoms directly or indirectly by exacerbating other frequently coexisting cardiac conditions such as valvular heart disease, hypertension, ischemic cardiomyopathy, dilated cardiomyopathy, and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. Evidence suggests that aging-related cardiovascular changes predispose to the elderly to AF. Current therapeutic options such as antiarrhythmic drugs have not been extensively evaluated in the elderly population. Emerging pharmacological and non-pharmacological treatment options for the management of AF, such as dronedarone or catheter ablation, are of particular interest in the elderly. The present paper reviews the pathophysiology, diagnosis, and the management of AF in the elderly patient.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document