Perioperative Atrial Fibrillation Increases Long-Term Risk for Stroke

Perioperative atrial fibrillation (AF) is common in cardiac surgery and is also seen in noncardiac surgery. Because AF is thought to be secondary to local inflammation (pericardial) in cardiac surgery and generalized stress in cardiac and noncardiac surgery, it is not considered to increase the risk for stroke once the stress of surgery has resolved.

Using a large, California State database of 1,729,360 patients hospitalized for surgery, investigators compared the long-term outcomes of patients with and without perioperative AF. Patients with preoperative AF were excluded from the analysis.

New-onset AF occurred in 24,711 patients (1.43%) during the perioperative period and was more common in cardiac surgery (16.10%) compared with noncardiac …