title: Factors affecting the development of atrial fibrillation and atrial flutter (AF/AFL) following autologous hematopoietic SCT (auto-HSCT).
abstract: The use of autologous hematopoietic SCT (auto-HSCT) has expanded to include older patients. Increasing age is a well-appreciated risk factor for the development of atrial fibrillation and/or atrial flutter (AF/AFL) in the general population. As more elderly patients undergo auto-HSCT, the risk of developing AF/AFL post transplant may also increase. However, few data evaluating other risk factors for the development of AF/AFL following auto-HSCT exist. Therefore, we performed a retrospective study to determine the incidence of AF/AFL following auto-HSCT and to determine the risk factors associated with the development of AF/AFL. Patients who developed AF/AFL were compared with a group of patients who received auto-HSCT within the same time period (April 1999 to May 2005) and were within 5 years of age. Of the 516 patients who underwent auto-HSCT at the University of Nebraska Medical Center 44 (8.5%) developed AF/AFL at a median time of 4 days (range, days 1-9) following auto-HSCT. In multivariate analysis, risk factors for developing AF/AFL were older age, odds ratio and 95% CI of 1.14 (1.07-1.21), elevated serum creatinine level, 2.69 (1.00-7.22), history of previous arrhythmia, 9.33 (3.01-28.99), and history of previous mediastinal irradiation, 11.12 (1.33-92.96).
authors.affiliation: Internal Medicine Section of Cardiology, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE, USA.
authors.forename: J A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Steuter
authors.forename: M L H
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Villanueva
authors.forename: F R
authors.initials: FR
authors.lastname: Loberiza
authors.forename: J O
authors.initials: JO
authors.lastname: Armitage
authors.forename: R G
authors.initials: RG
authors.lastname: Bociek
authors.forename: A K
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Ganti
authors.forename: S R
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Tarantolo
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Vose
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Easley
authors.forename: P J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Bierman
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001281:Atrial Fibrillation / Q000097:blood / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D001282:Atrial Flutter / Q000097:blood / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D064592:Autografts; D016208:Databases, Factual; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D019337:Hematologic Neoplasms / Q000097:blood / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000628:therapy*; D018380:Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012307:Risk Factors