Investigation for Current Status of Tachyarrhythmia Treatment in Emergency Patients in Beijing / 中国循环杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective: To investigate the current status of tachyarrhythmia treatment and outcomes in emergency patients. Methods: A total of 250 tachyarrhythmia patients treated in emergency departments from 1 tertiary hospital, 1 secondary hospital and 1 cardiovascular hospital in Beijing were enrolled. The baseline condition, type of tachyarrhythmia such as atrial fibrillation (AF)/atrial flutter, intravenous medication, prognosis and the choice of anticoagulation therapy were collected and statistically analyzed. Results: The mean age of patients was 64 years including 123/250 (49.2%) female. Common previous histories included 135 (54.0%) cases of hypertension, 93 (37.2%) cases of CAD, 29 (11.6%) cases of stroke/TIA, 29 (11.6%) cases of valvular heart disease and 18 (7.2%) cases of cardiomyopathy; 136 (54.4%) cases combined with organic heart disease. 123 (49.2) cases had previous atrial flutter/AF. The most common type of tachyarrhythmia was AF (172 cases, 68.8%) and the rest in turn, were supra-ventricular tachycardia (41 cases, 16.4%), ventricular tachycardia (23 cases, 9.2%), atrial flutter (21 cases, 8.4%), atrial tachycardia (12 cases, 4.6%) and premature ventricular contraction (5 cases, 2%). The most commonly used drug for treating supra-ventricular tachycardia was propafenone (151 cases, 60.4%), commonly used drug for treating supra-ventricular tachycardia and ventricular arrhythmia was amiodarone. With proper treatment, arrhythmia was stopped in 56% (140 cases), improved in 40% (100 cases) and unchanged or died in 10% (25 cases). 107 non-valvular AF/atrial flutter patients received low molecular heparin for anticoagulation therapy and only 25 patients continued oral anticoagulant therapy after discharge.Conclusion: In our research, most emergency patients were treated consistently with current guidelines. The choice of medication and anticoagulation therapy in AF patients should be improved.