In a Duke University Medical Center study, scientists found new-onset atrial fibrillation (AFib) in 1 in 20 patients hospitalized with COVID-19.
AFib is a quivering or irregular heartbeat (arrhythmia) that can lead to blood clots, stroke, heart failure, and other heart-related complications.
At least 2.7 million Americans are living with AFib.
In the study, researchers used data from the American Heart Association’s COVID-19 Cardiovascular Disease Registry.
They examined nearly 28,000 patients without a history of AFib who were hospitalized for COVID-19.
They found that new-onset AFib was strongly linked to increased in-hospital mortality and major adverse heart events.
Of the patients in the study, those who developed new-onset AFib while hospitalized experienced more extended hospital stays and greater need for ICU care and intubation and approximately 45% died in the hospital.
After multivariable adjustment for in-hospital factors and underlying comorbidities, the findings suggest that new-onset atrial fibrillation in patients hospitalized with COVID-19 is a marker of adverse clinical factors.
The team says in 2001, experts predicted the number of Americans living with AFib would double by 2050—the situation may be direr following the COVID-19 pandemic.
Research suggests AFib is likely to influence more Americans and could put more people at greater risk of stroke and heart failure than previously expected.
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The study was conducted by Jonathan Piccini et al and published in Circulation: Arrhythmia and Electrophysiology.
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