Characteristics and temporal pattern of readmissions of patients with atrial fibrillation hospitalized in medical departments.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the characteristics of patients with auricular fibrillation (AF) in the hospital setting and their successive hospitalisations.

METHOD: A retrospective cohort study was conducted on all hospital admissions in the medical area of hospital of Lugo between January 1, 2000 and December 31, 2013. The data source was the centre's minimum basic data set.

RESULTS: A total of 149,271 hospital admissions corresponding to 66,286 patients were recorded. Of the total, the percentage of admissions and patients with AF was 17.3% (25,870) and 18.9% (12,512), respectively. The patients with AF were characterized by a larger proportion of women (49.7 vs. 44.3%; P<.0001), advanced age (78.3 [DE 10.2] vs. 67.1 years [DE 17.9]; P<.0001), more chronic diseases (4.2 [DE 2.1] vs. 2.9 [DE 1.9]; P<.001), longer hospital stays (12.5 [DE 12.5] vs. 10.6 [DE 19.9] days; P<.0001) and a high rate of readmissions (3.0 [DE 2.75] vs. 2.1 [DE 2.28]; P<.001), with a progressive shortening of the time between hospitalisations. The department of internal medicine was responsible for the care of more than half of the patients with AF. The most common associated secondary diagnoses were chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, stroke, heart failure, ischemic heart disease, other respiratory system diseases and arterial hypertension.

CONCLUSIONS: AF occurs in highly complex patients, who are mostly hospitalized in internal medicine departments, and is associated with a high rate of readmissions. We need to consider the diseases associated with AF for an overall approach to these patients.