While cardiac patients with atrial fibrillation are hospitalized more frequently, survival rates for this patient group are also rising, according to a new study published in the journal Circulation.
Atrial fibrillation — an abnormal heart rhythm caused by rapid beating — is the second most common cardiac condition in America. While the condition affects more than 2 million Americans annually, little data exists on mortality and outcomes.
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To further investigate the outcomes of AFib patients, researchers analyzed Medicare data on patients from 1999 to 2013. Analysis revealed hospitalizations rose by nearly 1 percent each year. At the same time, the average cost of care for the condition increased per hospital stay from $2,932 in 1999 to $4,719 in 2013. Additionally, 30-day readmissions dropped 1 percent for each year studied. Also, mortality within 1 year saw a modest decline 0.26 percent per year and mortality within 30 days dropped by 0.4 percent each year.
"The more intensive and costly inpatient care that we're providing for AFib recently is associated with decreasing rates of readmission and both short- and longer-term death rates," said first author James Freeman, MD, assistant professor of medicine in cardiology at Yale School of Medicine in New Haven, Conn.
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