Impact of Arrhythmias on Hospitalizations in Patients With Cardiac Amyloidosis

Cardiac involvement in amyloidosis is associated with a poor prognosis. Data on the burden of arrhythmias in patients with cardiac amyloidosis (CA) during hospitalization are lacking. We identified the burden of arrhythmias using the National Inpatient Sample (NIS) database from January 2016 to December 2017. We compared patient characteristics, outcomes, and hospitalization costs between CA patients with and without documented arrhythmias. Out of 5,585 hospital admissions for CA, 2,020 (36.1%) had concurrent arrhythmias. Propensity-score matching for age, sex, income, and co-morbidities was performed with 1,405 CA patients with arrhythmias and 1,405 patients without. The primary outcome of all-cause mortality was significantly higher in CA patients with arrhythmia than without(13.9% vs 5.3%, p-value \u3c0.001). Atrial fibrillation (AF) was the most common (72.2%) arrhythmia in CA patients with concurrent arrhythmia. The secondary outcomes of AF-related mortality (11.95% vs 9.16%, p-value = 0.02) and acute and acute on chronic as heart failure (HF) exacerbation (32.38% vs 24.91%, p-value \u3c0.0001) were significantly higher in CA and concurrent arrhythmia compared with CA patients without. The total length of hospital stay (6[3 to 12] vs 5[3 to 10], p-value \u3c0.001) and cost of hospitalization were ($15,086[7,813 to 30,373] vs$ 12,219[6,865 to 23,997], p-value = 0.001) were significantly greater among CA with arrhythmia compared with those without. These data suggest that the presence of arrhythmias in CA patients during hospital admission is associated with a poorer prognosis and may reflect patients with a higher risk of HF exacerbation and mortality

One-year outcomes of catheter ablation for atrial fibrillation in young patients

Background: Atrial fibrillation (AF) is relatively less frequent in younger patients (age \u3c 50). Recently, studies have suggested that early restoration of sinus rhythm may lead to improved outcomes compared with rate control, however the efficacy of catheter ablation for AF in young is scarce. Methods: We included all hospitalized patients between 18 and 50 years with a diagnosis of AF from the Nationwide Readmission Database 2016-2017 from the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project. Demographic and comorbidity data were collected and analyzed. Outcomes assessed included one-year AF readmission rates, all-cause readmission, ischemic stroke, and all-cause mortality. Subgroup analyses were performed for all demographic and comorbidity variables. Results: Overall, 52,598 patients (medium age 44, interquartile range 38-48, female 25.7%) were included in the study, including 2,146 (4.0%) who underwent catheter ablation for AF. Patients who underwent catheter ablation had a significantly lower rate of readmission for AF or any cause at one year (adjusted hazard ratios (HR) of 0.52 [95% confidence interval (CI): 0.43-0.63] and HR of 0.81 [95% CI: 0.72-0.89], respectively). There was no difference in 1-year readmission for stroke or all-cause mortality between the two groups. Subgroup analyses showed a consistent reduction in the risk of AF readmission among major demographic and comorbidity subgroups. Conclusion: Catheter ablation in young patients with AF was associated with a reduction in 1-year AF related and all-cause readmissions. These data merit further prospective investigation for validation, through dedicated registries and multicenter collaborations to include young AF from diverse population