Abstract
Introduction: Atrial fibrillation is presented as one of the main risk factors for the presence of stroke of cardioembolic origin. Its increasing prevalence is particularly caused by the aging population growth. This type of arrhythmia requires secondary prevention compared to the treatment of other illnesses.
Objective: To describe the characteristics of ischemic stroke patients and its relationship with atrial fibrillation.
Materials and methods: Retrospective descriptive study of individuals admitted with ischemic stroke. Information of risk factors for cerebrovascular disease, presence or abscense of atrial fibrillation and treatment received was collected. Comparative tables according to the presence or absence of atrial fibrillation were performed. Values less than 0.05 were considered significant.
Results: There were 246 patients with ischemic stroke. The median of age was 71 years and half were male. The prevalence of risk factors for ischemic stroke were 73.9% for arterial hypertension (HT), 23.9% previous stroke, 20.7% for smoking. . The prevalence of atrial fibrillation was 24.3%, being higher in patients with concomitant heart failure (OR 3.5 95% CI 1.6 to 7.75 p = 0.000). There were lower probability of atrial fibrillation among men (OR 0.49 95% CI 0.26-0.92 p = 0.018). Dilatation of the left atrium was present in 43.1% ischemic stroke patients. 57% of the individuals who were taking oral anticoagulants had atrial fibrillation Only 15% met criteria for thrombolysis. The all-cause mortality in patients with ischemic stroke was 13.8% and in the atrial fibrillation group was 16%.
Conclusion: Ischemic stroke is a prevalent disease in our population and nearly one in five patients with ischemic stroke have previous atrial fibrillation or de novo diagnosed during the event. The mortality in this subgroup of patients is 16%.
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