Abstract

Background: Atrial fibrillation (AF) increases the risks of stroke. Previous studies revealed patients with paroxysmal AF (PAF) have a risk of stroke similar to that in patients with sustained (persistent or permanent) AF (SAF). Methods: The Fushimi AF Registry, a community-based prospective survey, was designed to enroll all of the AF patients in Fushimi-ku, Kyoto, Japan. At present, we have enrolled 3,985 patients from March 2011 to April 2014. One-year follow-up was completed in 3,189 patients as of April 2014. We compared the baseline clinical characteristics and one-year outcome between PAF (n=1,534, 48.1%) and SAF (n=1,655, 51.9%). Results: Patients with PAF were younger (PAF vs. SAF: 72.3±11.7 vs. 74.9±9.9 years; p<0.01), less likely to have a history of stroke (15.0% vs. 22.1%; p<0.01), heart failure (17.3% vs. 34.9%; p<0.01), and had lower CHADS2 score (1.82±1.29 vs. 2.22±1.35; p<0.01). During the one-year follow-up period, there was no significant difference in all-cause death (116 (7.6%) vs. 137 (8.3%); p=0.45) or major bleeding (25 (1.6%) vs. 29 (1.8%); p=0.78) between PAF and SAF. In patients with PAF, incidence of stroke or systemic embolism (SE) was less (29 (1.9%) vs. 52 (3.1%); p=0.02) and so was the hospitalization for heart failure (43 (2.8%) vs. 83 (5.0%); p<0.01). In subgroup of patients with CHADS2 score ≥2, there was no significant difference in the incidence of stroke or SE between PAF and SAF (p=0.58) (figure B). In contrast, PAF was associated with lower incidence of stroke or SE in patients with CHADS2 score 0 or 1 (p=0.02) (figure A). After the adjustment by gender and established risk factors (components of CHADS2 score) in multiple logistic regression models, PAF was independently associated with lower incidence of stroke or SE in CHADS2 score 0 or 1 (adjusted odds ratio, 0.22; 95% confidence interval, 0.05 to 0.72; p=0.01). Conclusion: PAF was independently associated with lower incidence of stroke or SE in low risk patients with CHADS2 score 0 or 1.

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