The Impact of Age on the Epidemiology of Atrial Fibrillation Hospitalizations

Abstract

Background Given 4 million individuals in the United States suffer from atrial fibrillation, understanding the epidemiology of this disease is crucial. We sought to identify and characterize the impact of age on national atrial fibrillation hospitalization patterns. Methods The study sample was drawn from the 2009–2010 Nationwide Inpatient Sample (NIS). Patients hospitalized with a principal ICD9 discharge diagnosis of atrial fibrillation were included. Patients were categorized as “older” (65 and older) or “younger” (under 65 years) for the purposes of analysis. The outcomes measured included hospitalization rate, length of stay, in-hospital mortality, and discharge status. Results We identified 192,846 atrial fibrillation hospitalizations. There was significant geographic variation in hospitalizations for both younger and older age groups. States with high hospitalizations differed from those states known to have high stroke mortality. Younger patients (33% of the sample) were more likely to be obese (21% versus 8%, p<0.001) and use alcohol (8% versus 2%, p<0.001). Older patients were more likely to have kidney disease (14% versus 7%, p<0.001). Both age groups had high rates of hypertension and diabetes. Older patients had higher in-hospital mortality and were more likely to be discharged to a nursing or intermediate care facility. Conclusions Younger patients account for a substantial minority of atrial fibrillation hospitalizations in contemporary practice. Younger patients are healthier, with a different distribution of risk factors, than older patients who have higher associated morbidity and mortality.

Trends in Hospitalization for Atrial Fibrillation: Epidemiology, Cost, and Implications for the Future

“…The majority (70%) of AF hospitalizations were associated with Medicare/Medicaid as the primary payer. In terms of geographic distribution of admissions(Figure 1), the hospitals in the South constitute the highest percentage of AF hospitalizations (38.5%), followed by the Midwest (24.9%), Northeast (22.2%), and West (14.4%) 43,44. This coincides with "stroke belt" as the southeastern region of the US is known for an excess incidence of stroke and its risk factors such as hypertension (HTN), diabetes mellitus (DM) and CHF compared to the rest of the nation 45.…”

Central Sleep-disordered Breathing Predicts Incident Atrial Fibrillation in Older Men

“…To do so, we systematically collected polysomnography (PSG) data and used standardized methods of clinically symptomatic AF identification, and we also analyzed self-reported AF data (20). We hypothesized that SDB would predict incident AF and postulated that central apnea would represent the strongest SDB determinant of predicting future AF (8,11).…”

Diferenças entre os sexos e faixas etárias na epidemiologia acidentes vasculares cerebrais isquêmicos em um hospital de Uberlândia entre 2011 e 2015

“…Após a sétima década de vida, o percentual de casos de AVCI atinge o pico na razão prevalência entre o sexo feminino e masculino. A fibrilação atrial é outro fator de risco importante para o AVCI que aumenta sua prevalência com a progressão da idade 51 . Como a expectativa de vida das mulheres é maior, essa associação é mais acentuada nesse sexo e pode estar associado ao padrão de prevalência registrado nessa pesquisa.…”