EP News: Allied Professionals

Abstract

Using the Rochester Epidemiology Project (REP) registry, Siontis et al (Ann Intern Med 2022;175:1065, PMID 35878404) sought to assess whether there was a difference in outcomes in patients presenting with their first episode of atrial fibrillation (incident AF) during or within 30 days of noncardiac surgery (defined as any procedure occurring under general anesthesia) vs those with incident AF not within 30 days of an operative procedure (nonoperative AF). The REP is a medical records linked registry of nearly all patients residing within Olmsted County, MN, from which investigators can search for data using diagnostic and procedure codes. All patients with AF or atrial flutter diagnosis were validated by nurse abstractors as having AF or atrial flutter on electrocardiography, telemetry, device interrogation, or other monitoring. All patients with incident AF during the study period were included except for patients with incident AF after cardiothoracic surgery. Comorbidities, anticoagulant prescriptions, later procedures such as cardioversion and ablation, and outcomes were also captured. The primary outcome was occurrence of ischemic stroke or transient ischemic attack (TIA), and secondary outcomes included recurrent AF episodes, all-cause death, and cardiovascular-related death.