Therapeutic inertia in rhythm control strategies in hospitalized patients with fibrillation: Insights from Hellenic Cardiorenal Morbidity Snapshot (HECMOS) study.

Atrial fibrillation Catheter ablation Heart failure Rhythm strategy Snapshot

Journal

Journal of cardiology
ISSN: 1876-4738
Titre abrégé: J Cardiol
Pays: Netherlands
ID NLM: 8804703

Informations de publication

Date de publication:
17 Nov 2023
Historique:
received: 03 06 2023
revised: 10 11 2023
accepted: 10 11 2023
pubmed: 19 11 2023
medline: 19 11 2023
entrez: 18 11 2023
Statut: aheadofprint

Résumé

Current guidelines recommend a rhythm control strategy in patients with symptomatic atrial fibrillation (AF) while catheter ablation has been shown to be a safer and more efficacious approach than antiarrhythmic medications. HECMOS was a nationwide snapshot survey of cardiorenal morbidity in hospitalized cardiology patients. In this sub-study, we included 276 cases who had a history of AF, particularly on the rhythm strategy, and catheter ablation procedures had been performed before the index admission. Among 276 AF patients (mean age: 76.4 ± 11.5 years, 58 % male), 60.9 % (N = 168) had persistent AF and 39.1 % (N = 108) had paroxysmal AF. Heart failure was the main cause of admission in 54.3 % (N = 145) of the patients, while 14.1 % (N = 39) were admitted due to paroxysmal AF, 7.3 % (N = 20) due to bradyarrhythmic reasons, and 6.5 % (N = 18) suffered from acute coronary syndrome. Most importantly, heart failure with reduced ejection fraction was present in 76 (27 %) patients. Only 10 patients out of the total (3 %, mean age 59.7 years) had undergone AF ablation while electrical cardioversion had been attempted in 37 (13.4 %) patients. Interestingly, in this AF population with heart failure, 3.6 % (N = 10) had a defibrillator implanted (4 single-chamber), and only 1.5 % (N = 4) had a cardiac resynchronization therapy defibrillator (CRT-D). High prevalence of persistent AF was detected in hospitalized patients, with heart failure being the leading cause of admission and main co-morbidity. Rhythm control strategies are notably underused, along with CRT-D implantation in patients with AF and heart failure.

Sections du résumé

BACKGROUND BACKGROUND
Current guidelines recommend a rhythm control strategy in patients with symptomatic atrial fibrillation (AF) while catheter ablation has been shown to be a safer and more efficacious approach than antiarrhythmic medications.
METHODS METHODS
HECMOS was a nationwide snapshot survey of cardiorenal morbidity in hospitalized cardiology patients. In this sub-study, we included 276 cases who had a history of AF, particularly on the rhythm strategy, and catheter ablation procedures had been performed before the index admission.
RESULTS RESULTS
Among 276 AF patients (mean age: 76.4 ± 11.5 years, 58 % male), 60.9 % (N = 168) had persistent AF and 39.1 % (N = 108) had paroxysmal AF. Heart failure was the main cause of admission in 54.3 % (N = 145) of the patients, while 14.1 % (N = 39) were admitted due to paroxysmal AF, 7.3 % (N = 20) due to bradyarrhythmic reasons, and 6.5 % (N = 18) suffered from acute coronary syndrome. Most importantly, heart failure with reduced ejection fraction was present in 76 (27 %) patients. Only 10 patients out of the total (3 %, mean age 59.7 years) had undergone AF ablation while electrical cardioversion had been attempted in 37 (13.4 %) patients. Interestingly, in this AF population with heart failure, 3.6 % (N = 10) had a defibrillator implanted (4 single-chamber), and only 1.5 % (N = 4) had a cardiac resynchronization therapy defibrillator (CRT-D).
CONCLUSION CONCLUSIONS
High prevalence of persistent AF was detected in hospitalized patients, with heart failure being the leading cause of admission and main co-morbidity. Rhythm control strategies are notably underused, along with CRT-D implantation in patients with AF and heart failure.

Identifiants

pubmed: 37979719
pii: S0914-5087(23)00275-7
doi: 10.1016/j.jjcc.2023.11.004
pii:
doi:

Types de publication

Journal Article

Langues

eng

Sous-ensembles de citation

IM

Informations de copyright

Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Déclaration de conflit d'intérêts

Declaration of competing interest None.

Auteurs

Panayotis K Vlachakis (PK)

First Department of Cardiology, National and Kapodistrian University, "Hippokration" Hospital, Athens, Greece.

Dimitris Tsiachris (D)

First Department of Cardiology, National and Kapodistrian University, "Hippokration" Hospital, Athens, Greece; Athens Heart Center, Athens Medical Center, Athens, Greece. Electronic address: dtsiachris@yahoo.com.

Ioannis Doundoulakis (I)

First Department of Cardiology, National and Kapodistrian University, "Hippokration" Hospital, Athens, Greece.

Panagiotis Tsioufis (P)

First Department of Cardiology, National and Kapodistrian University, "Hippokration" Hospital, Athens, Greece.

Athanasios Kordalis (A)

First Department of Cardiology, National and Kapodistrian University, "Hippokration" Hospital, Athens, Greece.

Michail Botis (M)

First Department of Cardiology, National and Kapodistrian University, "Hippokration" Hospital, Athens, Greece.

Ioannis Leontsinis (I)

First Department of Cardiology, National and Kapodistrian University, "Hippokration" Hospital, Athens, Greece.

Christos-Konstantinos Antoniou (CK)

First Department of Cardiology, National and Kapodistrian University, "Hippokration" Hospital, Athens, Greece; Athens Heart Center, Athens Medical Center, Athens, Greece.

Chrysostomi Papachrysostomou (C)

Department of Cardiology, "G. Gennimatas" General Hospital, Athens, Greece.

Vasiliki Dimitroula (V)

Department of Cardiology, G. Hatzikosta General Hospital of Ioannina, Ioannina, Greece.

Eleni Maneta (E)

Department of Clinical Therapeutics, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens Medical School, Athens, Greece.

Vasileios Chalkitis (V)

Department of Cardiology, Asklipieio Voulas Hospital, Athens, Greece.

Theodoros Kotsakis (T)

Department of Cardiology, Democritus University of Thrace, Medical School, Alexandroupoli, Greece.

Pavlos Skantzikas (P)

Department of Cardiology, Tzaneio General Hospital, Piraeus, Greece.

Nikolaos Kafkas (N)

Department of Cardiology, General Hospital of Attica "KAT", Athens, Greece.

Georgios Sidiropoulos (G)

Department of Cardiology, Georgios Papanikolaou General Hospital, Thessaloniki, Greece.

Dimitris Roussos (D)

Department of Cardiology, Argos General Hospital, Nafplio, Argolis, Greece.

Athanasios Trikas (A)

Department of Cardiology, Elpis General Hospital, Athens, Greece.

Georgios Koudounis (G)

Cardiology Department & Department of Cardiac Catheterization, General Hospital of Messinia, Kalamata, Greece.

Theofilos M Kolettis (TM)

Department of Cardiology, University Hospital of Ioannina, Ioannina, Greece.

Nikolaos Smyrnioudis (N)

Cardiology Department, General Hospital of Chios "Skylitseio", Greece.

Dimitrios Christakos (D)

Cardiology Department, Mediteraneo Hospital, Athens, Greece.

Christos Chasikidis (C)

First Department of Cardiology, National and Kapodistrian University, "Hippokration" Hospital, Athens, Greece.

Konstantinos A Gatzoulis (KA)

First Department of Cardiology, National and Kapodistrian University, "Hippokration" Hospital, Athens, Greece.

Konstantinos Tsioufis (K)

First Department of Cardiology, National and Kapodistrian University, "Hippokration" Hospital, Athens, Greece.

Classifications MeSH