Aims
Nutrition is an important determinant of health above the age of 80 years. Malnutrition in the elderly is often underdiagnosed. The aim of this study was to report the prevalence and prognostic value of malnutrition in patients ≥80 years old with atrial fibrillation (AF) with and without anticoagulant therapy.
Methods and results
We assessed the nutritional status of 4724 octogenarian patients with diagnoses of AF in a single centre from Spain between 2014 and 2017 with the CONUT score. Malnutrition was confirmed in 2036 patients (43.1%). Anticoagulation prescription was more frequent in patients with good nutrition than in those malnourished (79.5% vs. 71.7%, P < 0.001). The impact of malnutrition on mortality was evaluated by Cox regression, whereas its association with ischaemic stroke and major bleeding was studied through competing risk analysis. After multivariate adjusting, malnutrition was associated with mortality [hazard ratio (HR) 1.36, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.24–1.49], stroke [sub-distribution HR (sHR) 1.37, 95% CI 1.10–1.69], and major bleeding (sHR 1.29, 95% CI 1.02–1.64). In anticoagulated patients, the embolic–haemorrhagic trade-off event was virtually neutral for those who had normal nutritional status [average daily rates (ADRs) for stroke and bleeding: 4.70 and 4.69 per 100 000 patients/day, respectively; difference = +0.01 per 100 000 patients/day; P = 0.99] and negative for those with malnutrition (ADR for stroke and bleeding: 5.38 and 7.61 per 100 000 patients/day, respectively; difference = −2.23 per 100 000 patients/day; P = 0.07).
Conclusion
Malnutrition is very common in octogenarian patients with AF, being a clinical predictor for poor prognosis. For anticoagulated patients, malnutrition was associated with a negative embolic–haemorrhagic balance.
Background
Bleeding is frequent in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) treated with oral anticoagulant therapy, and may be the first manifestation of underlying cancer. We sought to investigate to what extent bleeding represents the unmasking of an occult cancer in patients with AF treated with oral anticoagulants.
Methods and Results
Using data from CardioCHUVI‐AF (Retrospective Observational Registry of Patients With Atrial Fibrillation From Vigo's Health Area), 8753 patients with AF aged ≥75 years with a diagnosis of AF between 2014 and 2017 were analyzed. Of them, 2171 (24.8%) experienced any clinically relevant bleeding, and 479 (5.5%) were diagnosed with cancer during a follow‐up of 3 years. Among 2171 patients who experienced bleeding, 198 (9.1%) were subsequently diagnosed with cancer. Patients with bleeding have a 3‐fold higher hazard of being subsequently diagnosed with new cancer compared with those without bleeding (4.7 versus 1.4 per 100 patient‐years; adjusted hazard ratio [HR], 3.2 [95% CI, 2.6–3.9]). Gastrointestinal bleeding was associated with a 13‐fold higher hazard of new gastrointestinal cancer diagnosis (HR, 13.4; 95% CI, 9.1–19.8); genitourinary bleeding was associated with an 18‐fold higher hazard of new genitourinary cancer diagnosis (HR, 18.1; 95% CI, 12.5–26.2); and bronchopulmonary bleeding was associated with a 15‐fold higher hazard of new bronchopulmonary cancer diagnosis (HR, 15.8; 95% CI, 6.0–41.3). For other bleeding (nongastrointestinal, nongenitourinary, nonbronchopulmonary), the HR for cancer was 2.3 (95% CI, 1.5–3.6).
Conclusions
In patients with AF treated with oral anticoagulant therapy, any gastrointestinal, genitourinary, or bronchopulmonary bleeding was associated with higher rates of new cancer diagnosis. These bleeding events should prompt investigation for cancers at those sites.
Although the GRACE risk score is routinely used for stratification of patients with ACS, assessment of hsCRP may provide additional prognostic value in the follow-up of non-STEMI patients.
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