Background— There is a paucity of international data on the various types of atrial fibrillation (AF) outside the highly selected populations from randomized trials. This study aimed to describe patient characteristics, risk factors, comorbidities, symptoms, management strategy, and control of different types of AF in real-life practice. Methods and Results— Real-life global survey evaluating patients with atrial fibrillation (RealiseAF) was a contemporary, large-scale, cross-sectional international survey of patients with AF who had ≥1 episode in the past 12 months. Investigators were randomly selected to avoid bias. Among 9816 eligible patients from 831 sites in 26 countries, 2606 (26.5%) had paroxysmal, 2341 (23.8%) had persistent, and 4869 (49.6%) had permanent AF. As AF progressed from paroxysmal to persistent and permanent forms, the prevalence of comorbidities, such as heart failure (32.9%, 44.3%, and 55.6%), coronary artery disease (30.0%, 32.9%, and 34.3%), cerebrovascular disease (11.7%, 10.8%, and 17.6%), and valvular disease (16.7%, 21.2%, and 35.8%), increased, and the prevalence of lone AF decreased. Similarly, there was an increase in mean CHADS 2 [cardiac failure, hypertension, age, diabetes, stroke (doubled)] score (1.7, 1.8, and 2.2), and more than half of patients (51.0%, 56.7%, and 67.3%) qualified for oral anticoagulants. Almost 90% of patients received ≥1 antiarrhythmic drug, but >60% had European Heart Rhythm Association symptom scores from II to IV. Furthermore, 40.7% of persistent and 49.8% of permanent AF patients were still in AF with a heart rate >80 beats per minute. Conclusions— This survey disclosed high cardiovascular risks and an unmet need in daily practice for patients with any type of AF, especially those with the permanent form.

AF control is not optimal. Control appears to be associated with fewer symptoms and better QoL, but even patients with controlled AF have frequent symptoms, functional impairment, altered QoL and cardiovascular events. New treatments are needed to improve control and minimise the functional and QoL burden of AF.

Background: Atrial fibrillation (AF) and heart failure (HF) often coexist; the consequences of such coexistence are unclear. Hypothesis: HF in patients with AF is associated with poor outcomes. Methods: This post hoc analysis of RealiseAF, a survey of AF patients, compared symptoms, hospitalizations, management, and AF control in patients with vs without HF. A total of 10,523 AF patients were analyzed according to presence/absence of HF. Results: History of HF was present in 45.8%, and in more patients with permanent vs persistent, paroxysmal, or first-episode AF (55.6%, 44.3%, 32.9%, and 29.8%, respectively; P < 0.0001). Patients with vs those without history of HF, and patients with HF and reduced ejection fraction (HF-REF) vs those with HF and a preserved ejection fraction (HF-PEF), had more frequent cardiovascular (CV) risk factors and more severe symptoms. Presence vs absence of HF, and HF-REF vs HF-PEF, were associated with lower rates of AF control (54.6% vs 62.8% and 49.3% vs 60.3%, respectively; both P < 0.0001). The rate-control strategy was used more frequently in HF patients, particularly those with HF-REF, than the rhythm-control strategy. CV hospitalizations occurred more frequently in patients with HF than those without (41.8% vs 17.5%; P < 0.001) and more frequently in patients with HF-REF than in those with HF-PEF (51.6% vs 35.6%; P < 0.0001). Conclusions: AF patients with HF, particularly HF-REF, experience heavy symptom and hospitalization burdens, and have relatively low rates of AF control. Further studies are needed to identify ways to improve the management and treatment outcomes of this very high-risk patient population.

The use of AADs for persistent or paroxysmal AF in this large contemporary international survey showed some deviations from international guidelines. The highest discordance came with the use of amiodarone in first line. Clearly, there is a large discrepancy between published guidelines and current practice.

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BackgroundAtrial fibrillation (AF) can be managed with rhythm- or rate-control strategies. There are few data from routine clinical practice on the frequency with which each strategy is used and their correlates in terms of patients’ clinical characteristics, AF control, and symptom burden.MethodsRealiseAF was an international, cross-sectional, observational survey of 11,198 patients with AF. The aim of this analysis was to describe patient profiles and symptoms according to the AF management strategy used. A multivariate logistic regression identified factors associated with AF management strategy at the end of the visit.ResultsAmong 10,497 eligible patients, 53.7% used a rate-control strategy, compared with 34.5% who used a rhythm-control strategy. In 11.8% of patients, no clear strategy was stated. The proportion of patients with AF-related symptoms (EHRA Class > = II) was 78.1% (n = 4396/5630) for those using a rate-control strategy vs. 67.8% for those using a rhythm-control strategy (p<0.001). Multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that age <75 years or the paroxysmal or persistent form of AF favored the choice of a rhythm-control strategy. A change in strategy was infrequent, even in patients with European Heart Rhythm Association (EHRA) Class > = II.ConclusionsIn the RealiseAF routine clinical practice survey, rate control was more commonly used than rhythm control, and a change in strategy was uncommon, even in symptomatic patients. In almost 12% of patients, no clear strategy was stated. Physician awareness regarding optimal management strategies for AF may be improved.

The aim – to determine factors that may influence on the occurrence of early postoperative complications (EPC) of surgical myocardial revascularization in patients with stable coronary heart disease and to study the effect of peri­­operative drug therapy. Material and methods. In a single-center study, data from a prospective study of 155 patients with stable coronary heart disease consecutively selected for isolated coronary artery bypass graft surgery (CABG) were analyzed. In total, 84 EPC were registered in 66 patients during the hospital period; 89 patients had no complications. Groups of patients with and without complications were compared according to demographic parameters, risk factors, concomitant diseases, perioperative therapy, features of the CABG operation.Results. Most of the early complications (56 %) were the cases of postoperative atrial fibrillation/flutter. In unifactor analysis, the features of patients with complications in the early postoperative period were the presence of severe diabetes (Р=0.025), obesity of I and II degrees (Р=0.070), left ventricle hypertrophy (median (quartiles) 47.9 (41.8–63.1) g/m2.7 vs 43.6 (36.5–55.2) g/m2.7; Р=0.008), the left atrium increase size (median (quartiles) 4.3 (4.2–4.6) cm vs 4.2 (4.0–4.5) cm; Р=0.068); elevated preoperative level of IL-6 (median (quartiles) 4.1 (3.1–9.0) pg/ml vs 3.2 (2.0–5.1) pg/ml; Р=0.044); the absence of statin therapy in perioperative period (Р<0.001) and a long duration of aortic clamping (median (quartiles) 20 (15–25) min vs 17 (13–23) min; Р=0.049). According to the multivariate analysis, the risk of EPC after CABG was 6.25 times higher among patients who did not take statins in the perioperative period, compared to patients who received high-intensity statins for ≥ 7 days. In patients with severe diabetes, the risk of EPC was 1.96 times higher than in patients with mild diabetes.Conclusions. The presence of severe diabetes and the absence of statin therapy in the perioperative period proved to be independent predictors of the occurrence of EPC. High-intensity statins therapy for ≥ 7 days prior to surgery allowed to reduce the risk of EPC, in particular, post-operative atrial fibrillation/flutter.