Abstract 17300: Acute Kidney Injury is Associated With High Mortality in Patients With Atrial Fibrillation

Abstract

Introduction: The prevalence of atrial fibrillation (AF) is high in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD). The mortality risk of AF in the presence of CKD is also significantly high. Multiple theories of which importantly, the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system activation causing increased ventricular remodeling and heart failure, explain the increased incidence of AF in CKD. However, there are no data available on the effects of acute kidney injury (AKI) on mortality in patients with AF. We sought to investigate the prevalence and association of AKI with in-hospital mortality in patients presenting with AF. Methods: We performed a cross-sectional analysis of the 2011 Nationwide Inpatient Sample (NIS). Using logistic regression methods appropriate for the NIS sample design, we estimated the mortality risk associated with AKI in AF patients and evaluated factors that might modify this association. Results: In 2011, AF accounted for 457662 (1.4%) of overall adult admissions in the United States with an in-hospital mortality rate of 1%. Among these hospitalizations 30894 (6.8%) had a concomitant AKI diagnosis. The prevalence of AKI was higher (38%) in patients who died during these AF hospitalizations. The mortality risk in AF hospitalizations with an AKI diagnosis remained high even after adjusting for factors associated with AKI including age, sex, CKD, sepsis, hypertension, diabetes, congestive heart failure (CHF), smoking and heavy alcohol use (odds ratio 5.6; 95% CI (4.7 - 6.6); P<0.0001), relative to patients hospitalized with a non-AF diagnoses (odds ratio 3.3; 95% CI (3.2 - 3.4). The factors that interacted with AKI in predicting mortality risk in AF hospitalizations were underlying CKD, CHF, diabetes and alcoholism. Conclusion: Among hospitalized patients with AF, AKI is associated with significantly high mortality. This mortality was higher when compared to patients hospitalized with a non-AF diagnosis. Interpretation of our results must be conservative given the study design and data limitations. Future research using primary data sources might help identify factors associated with increased mortality in AKI patients presenting with AF.