New-Onset Atrial Fibrillation During Severe Sepsis Is Associated with Stroke, Mortality

An estimated 6% to 20% of patients with severe sepsis develop new-onset atrial fibrillation (AF). In this retrospective analysis, investigators assessed the in-hospital stroke risk and mortality associated with AF onset during sepsis.

Of 3 million adults hospitalized in California during 2007, nearly 50,000 were hospitalized with severe sepsis. New-onset AF was reported in 5.9% of these patients; 0.65% of the patients without severe sepsis developed AF. In analyses adjusted for confounding variables, several factors (e.g., older age, respiratory failure, right heart catheterization) were associated with elevated risk. Patients with severe sepsis also had higher risk for in-hospital stroke than patients without severe sepsis (odds ratio, 6.0)…