Correlation between atrial fibrillation and coronary artery disease in the elderly / 中华老年医学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To determine the association between atrial fibrillation(AF)and coronary artery disease(CAD)in elderly patients.Methods Based on autopsy data from 1990 to 2005,69 male patients with over 70 years old and AF history(32 with chronic AF,37 with paroxysmal AF)and diagnosed as CAD clinically were selected as AF group.Other 60 age-matched male patients without AF history were selected as the control group.The pathological changes of the coronary arteries between the groups were compared.Results The morbidity of CAD and myocardial infarction were 55.1% and 42.0% in AF group and 53.3% and 35% in the control(P＞0.05).The pathological changes of the coronary arteries between the two groups were similar(P＞0.05).The AF group had a heavier heart weight[(440.5?81.9)g vs(398.7?82.2)g,P＜0.01]and a thicker left ventricle [(1.42?0.34)cm vs(1.27?0.32)cm,P＜0.05]than did the control.The paroxysmal AF group had more branches of arteries(17 vs 5,P＜0.05)with pathological lesionⅣthan did the control. Conclusions There is a high morbidity of CAD in elderly patients,but it is not in relation to the occurrence of AF.