• Eur. J. Intern. Med. · Apr 2020

    One-year clinical events and management of patients with atrial fibrillation hospitalized in cardiology centers: Data from the BLITZ-AF study.

    • Roberto Cemin, Furio Colivicchi, Aldo P Maggioni, Giuseppe Boriani, Leonardo De Luca, Andrea Di Lenarda, Giuseppe Di Pasquale, Gianna Fabbri, Donata Lucci, Michele Massimo Gulizia, and On the behalf of BLITZ-AF Investigators.
    • Cardiology Division, San Maurizio Regional Hospital of Bolzano, Bolzano, Italy.
    • Eur. J. Intern. Med. 2020 Apr 1; 74: 55-60.

    BackgroundThe management of atrial fibrillation (AF) has changed with the introduction of direct anticoagulants (DOACs) and new techniques such as catheter ablation. An update collection of data from "real world" AF patients followed by cardiologists is useful to obtain information on both management, outcomes and guideline adherence in clinical practice.MethodsFollow-up information on survival, embolic and bleeding events and hospital readmission, persistence of oral anticoagulant (OAC) therapy was collected in 84 centers participating to the BLITZ-AF study.ResultsPatients were followed for a median of 366 days (IQR: 356-378) and vital status was available for 2159 patients. Mortality was 9.2%. Heart failure was the most common cardiovascular cause of death (70%) followed by arrhythmias (6.7%), acute coronary syndrome (5.0%) and ischemic stroke (2.5%). During follow-up 18.1% of the patients were readmitted, mainly (81.3%) for cardiovascular causes. Patients on OAC were 83.4%, 9.1% were on antiplatelets and 7.5% did not receive antithrombotic therapy. The use of DOACs increased from 42.1% to 46.4% during the follow-up, OAC discontinuation occurred in 9.1%. AF recurrences occurred in 23.4% of the patients discharged in sinus rhythm. Rate control strategy was adopted in 55.9% and beta-blockers were the most used drugs (81.9%). Amiodarone (22%) and flecainide (9.7%) were the most frequent used antiahrrythmic drugs.ConclusionsThe follow-up of the BLITZ-AF study provide an up to date picture of the clinical course of patients with AF, who appear frequently affected by heart failure and severe comorbidities which might have led to the high mortality rate.Copyright © 2019 European Federation of Internal Medicine. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

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