AF and short-term mortality
Median in-hospital stay was 7 [6–10] days and was significantly longer in the AF cohort compared with SR cohort (9 [7–13] vs. 7 [6–10] days, P<0.001). Twenty patients (0.8%) died within 30 days of surgery (1 patient in AF group [0.4%] vs. 19 patients in SR group [0.8%], P=0.714). All early deaths were from cardiovascular-related causes (i.e. sudden death, fatal myocardial infarction, stroke, pump failure or fatal arrhythmia).