ABSTRACT
The present study was done on 100 newly diagnosed patients of atrial fibrillation attending outpatient department of Internal Medicine, Govt. Medical College, Jammu over a period of 1 year with effect from June 2004 to May 2005. Patients who either attended OPD on a single day in a week or admitted patients were included in the study. Male: female ratio was 1:1.94, with mean age of the patient 50.16 years (range 13-96 years). 60% of patients were aged 50 years and above. Dyspnoea NYHA class II -IV was the commonest 74% complaint followed by palpitations 57%, fatigue 19%, syncope 17% and chest pain 11%. 14% patients were asymptomatic at presentation. Congestive cardiac failure was present in 67%. Rheumatic heart disease 54% was the commonest underlying etiological factor, followed by, coronary artery disease 9%, HTN (alone) and COPD (8% each), cardiomyopathy 7%, hyperthyroidism 3% and congenital heart disease 2%, 9% of the patients had the lone atrial fibrillation. Patient with left atrial dimension >4.0 cm had sustained atrial fibrillation. Thromboembolic phenomenon was more common in chronic AF and all the patients had mitral valve disease. Ventricular rate exceeded 100 per minute in 69 % of cases.