Atrial fibrillation is extremely common in people with heart failure and it worsens their outcomes, research has found.
New heart failure patients should be screened for atrial fibrillation, say researchers who found the condition occurring in 40% of newly diagnosed heart failure patients.
The US researchers said patients with both conditions had significantly worse outcomes and were more complex to treat, and perhaps warranted more aggressive treatment.
US researchers reviewed the health records of almost 22,000 patients with newly diagnosed heart failure at the Intermountain Health clinic in Salt Lake City between 2009 and 2019.
Of those participants, 36% had heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF – defined as ejection fraction under 40%) and 64% had heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF).
They found that 40% of the patients newly diagnosed with heart failure also had atrial fibrillation.
The researchers said the mortality risk was the same for patients with HFrEF and HFpEF, but patients with HFrEF were more likely to be hospitalised for heart failure than those with HFpEF.
HFpEF patients were older (an average age of 74 compared with 65 in the HFrEF group) and were more likely to be female (53.7% in the HFpEF group compared with 33.1% in the HFrEF group).
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The research was presented at the American Heart Association International Scientific Sessions in Chicago this month.
Principal investigator and Intermountain Health cardiovascular epidemiologist Dr Heidi May said atrial fibrillation made heart failure more complex to treat.
Dr May said in light of the findings, heart failure patients should be regularly screened for atrial fibrillation.
“Patients with both may require a more aggressive treatment regimen to preserve their quality of life,” she said.
