Cited by 260Atrial Fibrillation Management and OutcomesCardiac, Anesthesia and Surgical OutcomesCardiac Health and Mental Health

Postoperative atrial fibrillation in patients undergoing aortocoronary bypass surgery carries an eightfold risk of future atrial fibrillation and a doubled cardiovascular mortality

Ahlsson, Anders, Fengsrud, Espen, Bodin, Lennart, Englund, Anders·2010·European Journal of Cardio-Thoracic Surgery

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: This article presents a study of postoperative atrial fibrillation (AF) and its long-term effects on mortality and heart rhythm. METHODS: The study cohort consisted of 571 patients with no history of AF who underwent primary aortocoronary bypass surgery from 1999 to 2000. Postoperative AF occurred in 165/571 patients (28.9%). After a median follow-up of 6 years, questionnaires were obtained from 91.6% of surviving patients and an electrocardiogram (ECG) from 88.6% of all patients. Data from hospitalisations due to arrhythmia or stroke during follow-up were analysed. The causes of death were obtained for deceased patients. RESULTS: In postoperative AF patients, 25.4% had atrial fibrillation at follow-up compared with 3.6% of patients with no AF at surgery (p<0.001). An episode of postoperative AF was the strongest independent risk factor for development of late AF, with an adjusted risk ratio of 8.31 (95% confidence interval (CI) 4.20-16.43). Mortality was 29.7% (49 deaths/165 patients) in the AF group and 14.8% (60 deaths/406 patients) in the non-AF group (p<0.001). Death due to cerebral ischaemia was more common in the postoperative AF group (4.2% vs 0.2%, p<0.001), as was death due to myocardial infarction (6.7% vs 3.0%, p=0.041). Postoperative AF was an age-independent risk factor for late mortality, with an adjusted hazard ratio of 1.57 (95% CI 1.05-2.34). CONCLUSIONS: Postoperative AF patients have an eightfold increased risk of developing AF in the future, and a doubled long-term cardiovascular mortality.

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1016/j.ejcts.2009.12.033

Cites

24 of 24 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Recomputing p-values needs the paper’s full text.

Claims the paper makes

This paper’s full text isn’t openly available, so its claims and self-check weren’t run. The registry and citation checks still apply.

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • In the long term, patients with an episode of postoperative AF have a twofold increase in cardiovascular mortality and a substantially increased risk of future AF and ischaemic stroke compared with patients that remain in sinus rhythm after surgery.

    “In the long term, patients with an episode of postoperative AF have a twofold increase in cardiovascular mortality and a substantially increased risk of future AF and ischaemic stroke compared with patients that remain in sinus rhythm after surgery.952-958”

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Ahlsson, A., Fengsrud, E., Bodin, L., & Englund, A.
Affiliations
Örebro University Hospital (SE)
Corresponding author
Ahlsson, Anders
Venue
European Journal of Cardio-Thoracic Surgery
Published
2010-06
Volume
37
Issue
6
Pages
1353-1359
ISSN
1010-7940 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W2144902508
Cited by
259
References
24
Citations by year
2026: 11 · 2025: 22 · 2024: 28 · 2023: 17 · 2022: 26 · 2021: 22 · 2020: 27 · 2019: 21 · 2018: 15 · 2017: 17 · 2016: 9 · 2015: 9 · 2014: 15 · 2013: 9 · 2012: 7
FWCI
4.39
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Locations
  • European Journal of Cardio-Thoracic Surgery (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine › Atrial Fibrillation Management and Outcomes
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine › Cardiac, Anesthesia and Surgical Outcomes
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine › Cardiac Health and Mental Health
Keywords
postoperative atrial fibrillation, coronary artery bypass grafting, cardiovascular mortality, stroke, myocardial infarction, risk factors, cardiac arrhythmias
MeSH terms
Aged, Coronary Artery Bypass, Atrial Fibrillation, Brain Ischemia, Electrocardiography, Epidemiologic Methods, Female, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Myocardial Infarction, Prognosis, Recurrence, Stroke

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review