Materials and Methods
A retrospective (case control) observational study was conducted in the cardiovascular department of Baruch Padeh Medical Center – Poriya to determine predictive risk factors that lead to developing AF in patients who had cardiac surgeries. The study was approved by the institutional ethics review board and the research was conducted in accordance with the Helsinki Declaration. Preoperative, intraoperative, and postoperative clinical data and laboratory tests were collected and summarized. Moreover, 30 days after surgery morbidities and mortality were recorded.
The population study included 208 patients who underwent cardiac surgeries at Baruch Padeh Medical Center in the years 2017-2019. Inclusion criteria consisted of: patients undergoing cardiac surgeries in a sinus rhythm with and without a history of AF. Exclusion criteria consisted of: patients with permanent atrial fibrillation, patients who were not in sinus rhythm prior to surgery, and patients with missing data. Patients were divided into 2 groups: patients with and without AF post cardiac surgery irrespective of their AF history prior to cardiac surgery. Pre, intra, and post-operative factors were compared between the 2 groups.