Abstract:

Background: Atrial fibrillation is a the predominant cardiac arrhythmia in both developed and developing countries. Since it is associated with other comorbidities, its management requires diverse interventions. This study aimed at determining the demographic and clinical characteristics of atrial fibrillation patients together the associated in-hospital outcomes.

Methodology: A retrospective study of 83 patients with atrial fibrillation hospitalized at Bugando Medical Centre from 1st January 2022 to 31st December 2022. Data was collected from the `Electronic Health Management System (EHMS), entered and cleaned in Microsoft excel 2019, then analysed in STATA version 15. Descriptive statistics were presented as median, frequencies and percentages, in tables and graphs.

Results: Enrolled 83 patients with median age of 72[62-82] years, majority aged above 75 years. Hypertension was a predominant comorbidity among 51(62.2%) patients. Median results of echocardiogram were; LA size: 39[28.45-44.7] mm, LV size: 28.9[23-42.6] mm and LVEF: 50[39-66] %. The blood markers’ median results were; Creatinine: 87[78-113] µmol/L and Haemoglobin: 11.2[10-12.4] g/dl. There was dilated atria, hypertrophied ventricle and reduced ejection fraction in more than half of the participants. The common prescribed anticoagulant was warfarin and the median hospital stay was 7[6-10] days. Fifty two (62.7%) were alive and 31(37.3%) had died.

Conclusion: The findings of this study have reported dominance of hypertension in atrial fibrillation patients and the occurrence of dilated atria, left ventricular hypertrophy and reduced ejection fraction. Despite all these, the in-hospital outcome had only 37.3% mortality, in due the study period.