Clinical and Echocardiographic Profile of Atrial Fibrillation.

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 11.94, 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.