Factors Associated With the Epidemic of Hospitalizations Due to Atrial Fibrillation

Ajconline.org: 8/10/12

This study was presented in part at the European Society of Cardiology Congress, Stockholm, Sweden, August 2010 and published in abstract form (Eur Heart J 2010;31:S166).

Recent reports have described that hospitalizations for atrial fibrillation (AF) are continuing to increase. Given that hospitalizations are responsible for most of the economic burden associated with AF, the aim of this study was to characterize the impact of age and how changing procedural practices may be contributing to the increasing rates of AF hospitalizations. The annual age- and gender-specific incidence of hospitalizations for AF, electrical cardioversions, electrophysiologic studies, and radiofrequency ablation procedures in Australia were determined from 1993 to 2007 inclusive. Over this 15-year follow-up period spanning almost 300 million person-years, a total of 473,501 hospitalizations for AF were identified. There was a relative increase in AF hospitalizations of 203% over the study period, in contrast to an increase for all hospitalizations of only 71%.  Read more