0261: How to identify a risk for subsequent atrial fibrillation and higher risk of stroke in patients with hospitalization related to a cardiac cause?

A substantial part of ischemic strokes (IS) occurs in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) and 20% of all strokes are attributed to AF. We aimed to identify patients with a cardiac condition without diagnosed AF at higher risk of having a subsequent diagnosis of AF.MethodsIn a French longitudinal cohort study based on the PMSI database covering hospital care for the entire population, we analyzed incidence rates of new onset AF.ResultsOf 1,081,969 patients with hospitalization due to a cardiac condition in 2009, 826,416 patients did not have AF in their history but had hypertension (51%), heart failure (24%), coronary artery disease (40%), rhythm or conduction disturbances with no AF (23%), and/or valve disease (9%). A total of 61,062 (7.4%) of these patients were diagnosed as having AF during a follow-up of 17±15 months (yearly AF incidence rate 5.19%). CHA2DS2-VASc score was higher in these patients (4.63±1.66 vs 2.83±1.98 in those with no AF during FU, p<0.0001). Among these 61,062 patients, 3,623 (5.9%) also suffered stroke during follow-up and CHA2DS2-VASc score was even higher in these patients (5.29±1.60 vs 4.59±1.65 in those with AF and no stroke during FU, p