Associations of symptoms and quality of life with outcomes in patients with atrial fibrillation.

Krisai, Philipp; Blum, Steffen; Aeschbacher, Stefanie; Beer, Jürg H; Moschovitis, Giorgio; Witassek, Fabienne; Kobza, Richard; Rodondi, Nicolas; Moutzouri, Elisavet; Mahmood, Aamina; Healey, Jeff S; Zuern, Christine S; Kühne, Michael; Osswald, Stefan; Conen, David (2020). Associations of symptoms and quality of life with outcomes in patients with atrial fibrillation. Heart, 106(23), pp. 1847-1852. BMJ Publishing Group 10.1136/heartjnl-2019-316314

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OBJECTIVE

We aimed to investigate changes in atrial fibrillation (AF)-related symptoms and quality of life (QoL) over time, and their impact on prognosis.

METHODS

We prospectively followed 3836 patients with known AF for a mean of 3.7 years. Information on AF-related symptoms and QoL was obtained yearly. The primary end point was a composite of stroke or systemic embolism. Main secondary end points included stroke subtypes, all-cause mortality, cardiovascular death, hospitalisation for congestive heart failure (CHF), myocardial infarction and major bleeding. We assessed associations using multivariable, time-updated Cox proportional hazards models.

RESULTS

Mean age was 72 years, 72% were male. Patients with AF-related symptoms (66%) were younger (70 vs 74 years, p<0.0001), more often had paroxysmal AF (56% vs 37%, p<0.0001) and had lower QoL (71 vs 72 points, p=0.009). The incidence of the primary end point was 1.05 and 1.02 per 100 person-years in patients with and without symptoms, respectively. The multivariable adjusted HR (aHR) (95% CIs) for the primary end point was 1.11 (0.77 to 1.59; p=0.56) for AF-related symptoms. AF-related symptoms were not associated with any of the secondary end points. QoL was not significantly related to the primary end point (aHR per 5-point increase 0.98 (0.94 to 1.03; p=0.37)), but was significantly related to CHF hospitalisations (0.92 (0.90 to 0.94; p<0.0001)), cardiovascular death (0.90 (0.86 to 0.95; p<0.0001)) and all-cause mortality (0.88 (0.86 to 0.90; p<0.0001)).

CONCLUSIONS

AF-related symptoms were not associated with adverse outcomes and should therefore not be the basis for prognostic treatment decisions. QoL was strongly associated with CHF, cardiovascular death and all-cause mortality.

Item Type:

Journal Article (Original Article)

Division/Institute:

04 Faculty of Medicine > Department of General Internal Medicine (DAIM) > Clinic of General Internal Medicine
04 Faculty of Medicine > Medical Education > Institute of General Practice and Primary Care (BIHAM)
04 Faculty of Medicine > Department of General Internal Medicine (DAIM) > Clinic of General Internal Medicine > Centre of Competence for General Internal Medicine

UniBE Contributor:

Rodondi, Nicolas, Moutzouri Beifuss, Elisavet

Subjects:

600 Technology > 610 Medicine & health
300 Social sciences, sociology & anthropology > 360 Social problems & social services

ISSN:

1355-6037

Publisher:

BMJ Publishing Group

Funders:

[4] Swiss National Science Foundation

Language:

English

Submitter:

Tobias Tritschler

Date Deposited:

09 Apr 2020 10:38

Last Modified:

02 Mar 2023 23:33

Publisher DOI:

10.1136/heartjnl-2019-316314

PubMed ID:

32234819

Uncontrolled Keywords:

atrial fibrillation epidemiology stroke

BORIS DOI:

10.7892/boris.143211

URI:

https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/143211

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