Device-detected atrial fibrillation before and after acute cardiac events: insights from ASSERT Conferences uri icon

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abstract

  • Abstract Funding Acknowledgements Type of funding sources: None. Background Atrial fibrillation (AF) that is first detected concurrently with or shortly after another cardiac event is often thought to be caused by acute cardiac injury, and therefore reversible. Methods ASSERT enrolled patients >65 years old with hypertension and a pacemaker, but without known AF. We evaluated participants who had a cardiac event [angina/myocardial infarction (MI), cardiac catheterization/percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), cardiac surgery or other (e.g. pericarditis, hypertensive crisis)] and compared the prevalence of device-detected AF before and after these events. Results Among 2580 participants, 178 (6.9%) had at least one cardiac event over a mean 2.5 years of follow-up. In the 30 days following a first cardiac event, the prevalence of device-detected AF >6 min was 12.4% (95% confidence interval [CI] 7.9%-18.1%), which was higher than in the 30 days before the event (12.4% versus 4.5%, P = 0.004) (Figure 1). The prevalence of device-detected AF following the event was comparable across event subtypes (MI: 13.8%, 95%CI 7.9-18.1%; PCI: 6.9%, 95%CI 1.9-16.7%; Surgery: 20.0%, 95%CI 5.7-43.7%; Other: 18.5%, 95%CI 6.3-38.1%). There was a significant association between device-detected AF in the 6 months before a cardiac event and device-detected AF in the 30 days after a cardiac event: odds ratio (OR, adjusted for CHA2DS2-VASc score) for episodes >6 min 7.07 (95%CI 2.07-24.19; P = 0.002); adjusted OR for episodes >24 hours: 11.41 (95%CI 1.47-88.43; p = 0.020). Conclusions Acute cardiac events are associated with an increase in the prevalence of device-detected AF. These episodes are associated with a prior history of device-detected AF. Abstract Figure 1

publication date

  • May 24, 2021