ATRIAL FIBRILLATION IN COPD

Objective; To assess the frequency of atrial fibrillation in cases presenting with COPD. Material and methods; This cross sectional study was conducted during January to July 2019. There were 400 patients included. The cases were labelled as COPD according to GOLD 2015 guidelines. Atrial fibrillation was labelled as yes on the basis of absent p wave and irregular heart rate. Results; In the present study, there were total 400 cases of COPD, out of which 328 (82%) were males and 72 (8%) were females. The mean age at presentation was 57.11±9.82 years. There were 232 (58%) cases that had COPD for more than 3 years and 272 (68%) of cases had class IV of COPD. Atrial fibrillation was seen in 72 (18%) of the cases. Atrial fibrillation was seen in 52 (22.41%) out of 232 cases that had COPD more than 3 years with p= 0.02. There was no significant difference in terms of severity of COPD where it was seen in 20 (15.62%) cases with class III and 52 (19.12%) cases of class IV out of their respective groups with p= 0.43. Conclusion; Atrial fibrillation is not uncommon complication of COPD and it is significantly associated with duration of COPD more than 5 years. Key words; COPD, Atrial fibrillation