title: Temporal pattern and costs of rehospitalization in atrial fibrillation/atrial flutter patients with one or more additional risk factors.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The ATHENA study showed that use of dronedarone reduced rates of first cardiovascular (CV) hospitalization in atrial fibrillation/flutter (AF/AFL) patients. AF is associated with high costs to payers, which are driven by high rates of hospitalization. This retrospective cohort study examined readmission patterns and costs to US payers in real-world AF/AFL patients with ≥1 additional risk factor (ARF).
  
  
  METHODS
  Patients hospitalized (January 2005-March 2008) with AF/AFL as primary diagnosis and having ≥1 year of health coverage, before and after their first (index) admission, were identified in the PharMetrics Patient-Centric database. As in the ATHENA study, patients had to be ≥75 years of age or ≥70 years, with ≥1 ARF. Rehospitalization patterns (all-cause, all CV-related [including AF/AFL] and AF/AFL-related alone) were examined over 1 year post-index, and costs of index vs later AF/AFL admissions compared.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The study included 3498 patients (mean 80 [SD 7.6] years; 42.4% men). Over 1 year, 1389 patients (39.7%) were rehospitalized for any cause (mean 1.7 [SD 1.3] events/patient), with 1223 patients (35.0%) undergoing CV-related (mean 1.6 [SD 1.0] events/patient) and 935 (26.7%) undergoing AF-related rehospitalization (mean 1.4 [SD 0.8] events/patient). Common causes of CV-related readmissions (primary diagnosis) were AF/AFL (47.5%), congestive heart failure (CHF) (9.9%), coronary artery disease (7.4%), and stroke/transient ischemic attack (6.2%). Readmission rates at 3 months were 16.2% (all-cause), 14.3% (all CV-related including AF/AFL), and 10.5% (AF/AFL-related alone). AF/AFL readmissions (primary diagnosis) were longer than initial hospitalizations (mean total 6.9 [SD 12.9] vs 4.3 [SD 5.1] days, p < 0.0001) and more costly (median $1819 [25th percentile $1066, 75th percentile $5623] vs $1707 [25th percentile $1102, 75th percentile $4749]).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study excluded patients with pre-existing CHF, did not require electrocardiogram confirmation of AF/AFL diagnosis, and did not distinguish between paroxysmal, persistent, and permanent AF.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  AF/AFL patients with ≥1 ARF have high readmission rates. AF/AFL-related readmissions incur higher costs than the initial AF/AFL admissions.
authors.affiliation: School of Medicine, University of California Irvine Medical Center, Irvine, CA, USA. anamin@uci.edu
authors.forename: Alpesh N
authors.initials: AN
authors.lastname: Amin
authors.forename: Mehul
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Jhaveri
authors.forename: Jay
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lin
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001281:Atrial Fibrillation / Q000188:drug therapy; D001282:Atrial Flutter / Q000188:drug therapy; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D006295:Health Resources / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010359:Patient Readmission / Q000191:economics* / Q000639:trends*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D014481:United States