MONDAY, Oct. 2, 2023 (HealthDay News) — About one-third of participants with transient new-onset atrial fibrillation (AF) during hospitalization for noncardiac surgery or medical illness have recurrent AF within one year, according to a study published online Oct. 3 in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

William F. McIntyre, M.D., Ph.D., from McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, and colleagues estimated the risk for AF recurrence in patients with new-onset AF during a hospitalization for noncardiac surgery or medical illness in a matched cohort study. Patients hospitalized for noncardiac surgery or medical illness who had transient new-onset AF were enrolled and age- and sex-matched to controls with no history of AF from the same hospital ward (139 cases and 139 controls).

The researchers found that recurrent AF was detected in 33.1 and 5.0 percent of participants in the transient new-onset AF and control groups, respectively; the adjusted relative risk was 6.6. Recurrent AF was detected in 32.3 and 3.0 percent of participants with transient new-onset AF and matched controls, respectively, after exclusion of participants who had electrical or pharmacological cardioversion during their index hospitalization and their matched controls and limited to AF events detected by the patch electrocardiogram monitor.

“The risk for having AF detected is markedly higher than in matched control participants,” the authors write. “Future studies are required to assess the efficacy of oral anticoagulation for stroke prevention in this population.”

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