198: Patients over 75 years of age with and without atrial fibrillation: characteristics and differences in a hospital cohort of 357 patients

Abstract

Characteristics of patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) are well known, however the patients included in published studies are usually younger than patients encountered in daily practice in hospital. We performed a prospective observational study which aimed to describe all patients over 75 years hospitalized in a cardiology department. For each patient we collected cause of hospitalisation, medical and cardiovascular history. We compared patients with and without previous history of AF (“AF group” versus “sinus group”). Among 1050 patients admitted during an inclusion period of 4 months, 357 patients were older than 75 years: 150 in the “AF group” and 207 in the “sinus group”. AF was paroxysmal, persistent and permanent respectively in 21%, 30%, and 48% of cases. Table – Main data TOTAL N=357 AF group N=150 (42%) Sinus group N=207(58%) p Age 82±13 83±13 81±11 0.03 Men 186 75 (50) 106 (51.2) 0.9 HTA 178 (50) 76 (50.7) 102 (49.5) 0.9 Diabetes 86 (24.1) 35 (23.3) 51 (24.7) 0.1 Dyslipemia 93 (26.1) 35 (23.3) 58 (28.2) 0.3 Ischemic heart disease 13 (38.8) 55 (36.7) 83 (40.3) 0.1 Respiratory failure 26 (7.28) 13 (8.6) 13 (6.28) 0.4 Valvular heart disease 38 (10.5) 20 (13.3) 18 (8.73) 0.04 Pulmonary embolism 20 (5.6) 13 (8.6) 7 (3.3) 0.02 AVC 39 (10.9) 23 (15.3) 16 (7.7) 0,01 Thyroid disease 32 (8.9) 18 (12) 14 (6.7) 0.03 Dementia 23 (6.5) 13 (8.7) 10 (4.9) 0.1 Alcoholism 11 (3) 10 (6.7) 1 (0.48) 0.01 Main cause of hospitalisation Cardiac heart failure 111 (31) 67 (44.7) 44 (21.4) <0.001 Acute coronary syndrome 67 (19) 11 (7.3) 56 (26.6) <0.001 Patients over 75 years of age accounted for 34% of patients admitted in our cardiology department and 42% of them had a history of atrial fibrillation. AF patients had more frequently valvular disease, thyroid dysfunction, which are comorbidities associated with AF but also more strokes, dementia and hospitalization for heart failure which may be consequences of AF.