title: Atrial Fibrillation and Cardiovascular Comorbidities, Survival and Mortality: A Real-Life Observational Study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common cardiac tachyarrhythmia encountered in clinical practice affecting up to 10% of the population over 60 years old and its prevalence rises with age. The main goals were to characterize the AF patient population after the initial diagnosis of AF and to determine overall survival.
  
  
  METHODS
  It is a real-life observational study of 269 subjects with an AF diagnosis over 60 years old randomly selected. The collected variables were: sociodemographic, cardiovascular complications/comorbidities (CVCs) included in the CHA2DS2-VASc and HAS_BLED scores, drug assigned as clinical treatment, mean range INR and CVCs and death dates (all-cause mortality). The survival curve and the risk of death were assessed using Kaplan-Meier survival curve and comparisons with log-rank.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The average following time was 6.2 ± 3.7 years (0.2-20.4). Eleven point five percent died. Sixty-five point four percent had some CVCs. There were no differences in the overall incidence of CVCs by gender. The survival probability was 0.86 ± DE 0.03 among men and 0.90 ± DE 0.04 among women without differences. Thirty-six point eight percent (95% CI: 30.8 - 42.7) were diagnosed vascular complications before AF diagnosis, being ischemic cardiopathy (24.2%) and ischemic stroke (23.2%) the most frequent. The mortality is higher (P < 0.036) among those who suffered ≥ 3 vascular complications and significantly lower among those treated with statins (P = 0.032). After AF diagnosis, the most frequent was the cardiac heart failure (46.7%), significantly higher among women (P = 0.037). The mortality is significantly lower in those treated with OAC (P = 0.003).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  AF is associated with ischemic heart disease, ischemic stroke and congestive heart failure, but the average mortality age is not different from the global population in Spain and Catalonia.
authors.affiliation: Institut Catala de la Salut (ICS), Gerencia Territorial Terres de l'Ebre, Tortosa, Spain.
authors.forename: Jose Luis
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Clua-Espuny
authors.affiliation: Institut Catala de la Salut (ICS), Gerencia Territorial Terres de l'Ebre, Tortosa, Spain; These authors contributed equally to this article.
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Panisello-Tafalla
authors.affiliation: Department of Research, ICS Terres de l'Ebre, IDIAP Jordi Gol-IISPV, Tortosa, Spain.
authors.forename: Carlos
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Lopez-Pablo
authors.affiliation: Institut Catala de la Salut (ICS), Gerencia Territorial Terres de l'Ebre, Tortosa, Spain.
authors.forename: Inigo
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Lechuga-Duran
authors.affiliation: Department of Research, ICS Terres de l'Ebre, IDIAP Jordi Gol-IISPV, Tortosa, Spain.
authors.forename: Ramon
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Bosch-Princep
authors.affiliation: Institut Catala de la Salut (ICS), Gerencia Territorial Terres de l'Ebre, Tortosa, Spain; These authors contributed equally to this article.
authors.forename: Jorgina
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lucas-Noll
authors.affiliation: Institut Catala de la Salut (ICS), Gerencia Territorial Terres de l'Ebre, Tortosa, Spain; These authors contributed equally to this article.
authors.forename: Antonia
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gonzalez-Henares
authors.affiliation: Institut Catala de la Salut (ICS), Gerencia Territorial Terres de l'Ebre, Tortosa, Spain; These authors contributed equally to this article.
authors.forename: Lluisa
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Queralt-Tomas
authors.affiliation: Institut Catala de la Salut (ICS), Gerencia Territorial Terres de l'Ebre, Tortosa, Spain; These authors contributed equally to this article.
authors.forename: Rosa
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ripolles-Vicente
authors.affiliation: Institut Catala de la Salut (ICS), Gerencia Territorial Terres de l'Ebre, Tortosa, Spain; These authors contributed equally to this article.
authors.forename: Cristina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Calduch-Noll
authors.affiliation: Health Economics Department, Boehringer-Ingelheim, Sant Cugat del Valles, Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Nuria
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Gonzalez-Rojas
authors.affiliation: Cerebral Vascular Disease' Management Plan in Catalonia, Health Department Generalitat de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Miguel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gallofre-Lopez
keywords: Atrial fibrillation; Cardiovascular complication; Incidence; Mortality; Survival