Characteristics and temporal pattern of readmissions of patients with atrial fibrillation hospitalized in medical departments

Abstract Objective To determine the characteristics of patients with auricular fibrillation (AF) in the hospital setting and their successive hospitalisations. Method A retrospective cohort study was conducted on all hospital admissions in the medical area of hospital of Lugo between January 1, 2000 and December 31, 2013. The data source was the centre's minimum basic data set. Results A total of 149,271 hospital admissions corresponding to 66,286 patients were recorded. Of the total, the percentage of admissions and patients with AF was 17.3% (25,870) and 18.9% (12,512), respectively. The patients with AF were characterized by a larger proportion of women (49.7 vs. 44.3%; p p p p p Conclusions AF occurs in highly complex patients, who are mostly hospitalized in internal medicine departments, and is associated with a high rate of readmissions. We need to consider the diseases associated with AF for an overall approach to these patients.