Increased burden of comorbidities and risk of cardiovascular death in atrial fibrillation patients in Europe over ten years: A comparison between EORP-AF pilot and EHS-AF registries

Background: In 2002, the European Society of Cardiology conducted the Euro Heart Survey (EHS), while in 2014concluded 1-year follow-up of the EURObservational Research Programme AF (EORP-AF) Pilot Registry. Methods: We analysed differences in clinical profiles, therapeutic approaches and outcomes between these two cohorts after propensity score matching (PSM). Results: After PSM, 5206 patients were analysed. In EORP-AF there were more elderly patients than EHS (p<.001). EORP-AF patients were more burdened with cardiovascular (CV) and non-CV comorbidities, with a higher proportion of patients with high thromboembolic risk. EORP-AF patients used more oral-anticoagulant (OAC) (p<.001). At 1-year follow-up EORP-AF patients had lower risk for thromboembolic and CV events, readmission for AF and other CV reasons (all p<.001), showing conversely a higher risk for CV death (p=.015). Kaplan-Meier curves showed that EORP-AF patients had higher risk for CV death (p<.0001) and all-cause death (p=.0019). Cox regression confirmed that EORP-AF patients were at higher risk for CV death (p=.021). Conclusions: We found significant changes in AF epidemiology over a decade in Europe, with older patients, more burdened with comorbidities. A greater use of OAC was found. Despite a reduction in risk for thromboembolic events, a high risk of CV-related death was still evident.