Introduction: Paroxysmal atrial fibrillation (PAF) is a frequent complication of some severe cardiovascular (CV) diseases like heart failure (HF) and coronary ar-tery disease (CAD). The presence of some important symptoms associated with an acute episode of PAF re-quires hospitalization for additional investigations.
Objectives: T he identification of clinical and paracli-nical characteristics for a number of patient hospita-lized for an episode of PAF and the way in which they correlate outlining clinical profiles. Echocardiographic characteristics.
Methods: A retrospective study of 104 patients hospi-talized for an episode of PAF in the Cardiology Clinic of SCU “Sf. Pantelimon” Bucharest, between 23.04.2015 and 22.06.2016. Demographical, clinical, anamnestic and paraclinical data (EKG, echocardioghrapy) regar-ding the acute episode were collected. Particularities have been identified.
Results: 58.65% of patients have been found with re-current PAF. The average age was 70 years. Female patients constitute the majority (72.13% vs. 27.87%). From CV risks factors, hypertension, dyslipidemia had the highest percentage (85.24%, 50.81%), followed by obesity, diabetes mellitus type II and smoking (34.42%, 31.14% and 18.03%). From CV diseases HF was the most frequently associated (50.81%), followed by CAD and stroke (13.11%, 42.62%); with statistically signifi-cant differences (p=0.07) between the two types of PAF, recurrent or the novo, for HF. The most frequent symp-toms for an acute episode were palpitations, dyspnea and angina (72.13%, 62.29% and 44.26%). Only 19.68% of patients had a normal EKG at presentation. 54.10% presented signs of ischemia and 26.22% had disorders of the electrical conduction system. Echocardiogha-pic tests concluded that the majority (54.09%) had a preserved LVEF; 40.98% left ventricle hypertrophy; 22.95% an LA ≥40 mm. Recurrent PAF has associated a CHA₂DS₂-VASc score ≥3 and a HAS-BLED score ≥3 in precent of 72.14%, respectively 31.15%.
Conclusions: Recurrent PAF was present among the majority of the patients. Female constituted the majo-rity of the patients, with an average age of 70 years. The most frequent CV risk factor was hypertension. HF was frequently associated with recurrent PAF, with statisti-cally significant difference to the novo. Recurrent PAF has associated a CHA₂DS₂-VASc score ≥3 and a HAS-BLED score ≥3 in important percent.