Abstract 269: Association of Atrial and Ventricular Arrhythmias with In-hospital Outcomes in Peripartum Cardiomyopathy

Abstract

Background: Arrhythmias are relatively common in patients with non-ischemic cardiomyopathies. There are limited data on the association of atrial and ventricular arrhythmias with outcomes in patients with peripartum cardiomyopathy (PPCM). Methods: We queried the 2003-2011 Nationwide Inpatient Sample databases using the ICD-9 diagnostic codes 674.50 to 674.55, to identify all women aged between 15-55 years admitted with a diagnosis of PPCM. The various arrhythmias were identified using appropriate ICD-9 diagnostic codes - atrial fibrillation (AF) (427.31), atrial flutter (427.32), supraventricular tachycardia (SVT) (427.0), ventricular tachycardia (VT) (427.1), ventricular fibrillation (VF) (427.41 and 427.42). Multivariable adjusted logistic regression was used to study the association of arrhythmias with in-hospital mortality and multivariable adjusted linear regression was used to study the association of arrhythmias with length of stay and hospital charges. Results: From 2003 to 2011, 34,944 patients were hospitalized with PPCM. The mean age was 30±7 years. Among these patients with PPCM, ventricular tachycardia (VT) (4.8%) was the most common arrhythmia followed by atrial fibrillation (AF) (2.2%), ventricular fibrillation (VF) (1.3%), atrial flutter (0.8%) and supraventricular tachycardia (SVT) (0.6%). The risk adjusted in-hospital mortality was higher in PPCM patients with AF (3.6% vs 1.2%, adjusted OR 2.38, 95% CI 1.50-3.78), VT (3.7% vs 1.1%, adjusted OR 1.8, 95% CI 1.30-2.48) and VF (14.2% vs 1.1%, adjusted OR 5.39, 95% CI 3.75-7.74) compared to those without arrhythmias. Among the study population, the average length of stay was longer in patients with AF (8 vs 5 days, p<0.001), atrial flutter (10 vs 5 days, p<0.001), SVT (10 vs 5 days, p<0.001), VT (9 vs 5 days, p<0.001) and VF (10 vs 5 days, p<0.001). The average hospital charges was also higher in patients with AF ($74,799 vs $40,974; p=0.004), atrial flutter ($129,692 vs $41,042; p<0.001), SVT ($133,223 vs $41,165; p<0.001), VT ($97,525 vs $38,929; p<0.001) and VF ($158,381 vs $40,194; p<0.001). Conclusions: In patients hospitalized with PPCM AF, VT and VF were independently associated with significantly higher in-hospital mortality. Also in these patients AF, atrial flutter, SVT, VT and VF were independently associated with higher hospital charges and longer length of stay.