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New-Onset Atrial Fibrillation in the Critically Ill.
Crit Care Med. 2017 Mar 14;:
Authors: Moss TJ, Calland JF, Enfield KB, Gomez-Manjarres DC, Ruminski C, DiMarco JP, Lake DE, Moorman JR
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: To determine the association of new-onset atrial fibrillation with outcomes, including ICU length of stay and survival.
DESIGN: Retrospective cohort of ICU admissions. We found atrial fibrillation using automated detection (≥ 90s in 30 min) and classed as new-onset if there was no prior diagnosis of atrial fibrillation. We identified determinants of new-onset atrial fibrillation and, using propensity matching, characterized its impact on outcomes.
SETTING: Tertiary care academic center.
PATIENTS: A total of 8,356 consecutive adult admissions to either the medical or surgical/trauma/burn ICU with available continuous electrocardiogram data.
INTERVENTIONS: None.
MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: From 74 patient-years of every 15-minute observations, we detected atrial fibrillation in 1,610 admissions (19%), with median burden less than 2%. Most atrial fibrillation was paroxysmal; less than 2% of admissions were always in atrial fibrillation. New-onset atrial fibrillation was subclinical or went undocumented in 626, or 8% of all ICU admissions. Advanced age, acute respiratory failure, and sepsis were the strongest predictors of new-onset atrial fibrillation. In propensity-adjusted regression analyses, clinical new-onset atrial fibrillation was associated with increased hospital mortality (odds ratio, 1.63; 95% CI, 1.01-2.63) and longer length of stay (2.25 d; CI, 0.58-3.92). New-onset atrial fibrillation was not associated with survival after hospital discharge (hazard ratio, 0.99; 95% CI, 0.76-1.28 and hazard ratio, 1.11; 95% CI, 0.67-1.83, respectively, for subclinical and clinical new-onset atrial fibrillation).
CONCLUSIONS: Automated analysis of continuous electrocardiogram heart rate dynamics detects new-onset atrial fibrillation in many ICU patients. Though often transient and frequently unrecognized, new-onset atrial fibrillation is associated with poor hospital outcomes.This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives License 4.0 (CCBY-NC-ND), where it is permissible to download and share the work provided it is properly cited. The work cannot be changed in any way or used commercially without permission from the journal.
PMID: 28296811 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]