Clinical characteristics between patients with and without new onset atrial fibrillation
Patients who developed NOAF (n=16) during their ICU stay in comparison to non AF counterpart (n=93), were significantly older (median 65 year [IQR 59-71] vs 58 years [IQR 51-64]; p =0.001) and were high likely to have underlying chronic heart failure (2 [33%] vs 2[2%]; p =0.03) and chronic kidney disease (7 [44%] vs 15[16%]; p =0.004). Other comorbidities did not show any statistical significance between these two groups (Table 1). AKI has been more prevalent amongst the NOAF (94 % vs 59%; p =0.028) and nearly half of them required renal replacement therapy during ICU admission. Left atrium was enlarged above the normal limits in more than half of NOAF group (56% NOAF vs 28 % without NOAF; p = 0.032).Length of stay in ICU was significantly longer amongst survivors with NOAF than who remained in sinus rhythm (42 days [IQR 37-44 days] vs 32 days [IQR 21-40 days]; p =0.03) (Table 2). Increased in-hospital mortality was associated with presence of NOAF (OR 5.4; 95% CI 1.7-17; p =0.004) on univariate analysis and also when adjusting for covariates such as age, gender and comorbidities (p =0.042). One patient amongst the NOAF group died following an ischaemic stroke.