Impact of moderate to severe renal impairment on long-term clinical outcomes in patients with atrial fibrillation

Abstract

BackgroundThe deleterious effect of renal impairment in non-valvular atrial fibrillation (AF) patients has recently been reported. We investigated the impact of moderate to severe renal impairment on long-term clinical outcomes in AF patients. MethodsA total of 2126 AF patients were enrolled and divided into two groups according to ≥ or <60mL/min estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR). Clinical outcomes including all-cause death, cardiac death, ischemic stroke (IS), bleeding, and admission for heart failure (HF) were analyzed. ResultsCompared to the ≥60mL/min eGFR group, <60mL/min eGFR patients were older; had a higher proportion of females; were more likely to have diabetes, hypertension, and history of stroke; and had higher CHADS2, CHA2DS2-VASc, and HAS-BLED scores. During the follow-up period (median 6.23 years), all-cause death, bleeding, admission for HF, and progression to persistent or permanent AF were significantly increased in the <60mL/min eGFR group compared to the ≥60mL/min eGFR group. After multivariate Cox regression analyses, <60mL/min eGFR increased the risk of all-cause death [hazard ratio (HR): 1.84; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.03–3.28, p=0.04] and bleeding (HR: 1.28; 95% CI: 1.04–1.57, p=0.02). IS was only significantly increased in the <60mL/min eGFR group not receiving antithrombotic treatment. ConclusionModerate to severe renal impairment is a poor prognostic factor of long-term clinical outcomes in AF patients.