Effect of atorvastatin on postoperative atrial fibrillation in patients undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting

Objective To evaluate the effect of atorvastatin on postoperative atrial fibrillation(AF) in patients undergoing coronary artery bypass gafting(CABG).Methods A cohort of 140 consecutive patients without a history of documented AF or previous statin use,who were scheduled to undergo selective CABG.were enrolled Included patients were randomly assigned to atorvastatin group(n=71) who were administered atorvastatin 20 ms/d or to control group(n=69).After CABG,subjects were monitored continuously by electrocardiographic monitors at least 7 days.During the initial postoperative 7 d,the incidence and duration of AF were recorded.And the levels of high-sensitivity C-reactive protein(hs-CRP) were meaguFed before and 24 hours,72 hours,7 days after operation,respectively.The statistical software package SPSS(version 13.0)were used to analyze the data.The differences between groups were evaluated by χ2-test for discrete variables and student t-test for continuous variables.Multivariate logistic regression analysis was performed to determine the independent predictors of early postoperative AF.Results During initial postoperative 7 d,AF occurred at least once in 10 cages in atorvastatin group,with a prevalence ofroughly 14%,and in 23 cases in control group,with a prevalence of approximately 34%(P=0.009).The mean duration of single AF was 3.6±0.4 hours in atorvastatin group and 5.7±0.5 hours in control group (P＜0.01),respectively.The multivariate logistic analysis showed that perioperative atrovastatin administration was an independently risk factor for early postoperative AF(OR=0.219,0.076-0.633,P=0.005).There was also statistical difference in hs-CRP after CABG between the two groups.Conclusions Perioperative atrovastatin administration may inhibit inflammatory reaction,reduce the incidenee and duration of postoperative AF,hence may prevent and treat postoperative AF. Key words: Atrial fibrillation;  Coronary disease;  Atorvastatin