Nearly half of patients die within 10 years of AF hospitalisation: Aussie study
Re-hospitalisation for AF or flutter was also 'exceedingly common', doctors find.
Nearly half of patients hospitalised for AF or flutter die within a decade post-discharge, according to Australian analysis of public and private hospital data.
Their study also suggests that re-hospitalisation is “exceedingly common”, with more than 40% of patients readmitted for AF or flutter within 10 years of the initial discharge.
Co-author and cardiologist Associate Professor Isuru Ranasinghe said it showed that preventive efforts were “far from ideal”.
“Clinicians currently primarily focus on preventing the risk of stroke, but these findings emphasise the need to consider AF as a chronic disease with multiple serious downstream consequences,” said Professor Ranasinghe, from The Prince Charles Hospital in Brisbane.
