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Atrial fibrillatory rate and risk of stroke in atrial fibrillation

Andreas Bollmann1, Daniela Husser, Arne Lindgren

  • 1Department of Cardiology, Lund University, Lund, Sweden. andreas.bollmann@med.lu.se

Europace : European Pacing, Arrhythmias, and Cardiac Electrophysiology : Journal of the Working Groups on Cardiac Pacing, Arrhythmias, and Cardiac Cellular Electrophysiology of the European Society of Cardiology
|March 17, 2009
PubMed

Insights

The atrial fibrillatory rate, measured by ECG lead V1, does not appear to be a reliable indicator of stroke risk in patients with atrial fibrillation. This study found no significant difference in fibrillatory rates between stroke and non-stroke groups.

Area of Science:

  • Cardiology
  • Electrophysiology
  • Neurology

Background:

  • Atrial fibrillation (AF) poses a significant stroke risk.
  • Previous studies on electrocardiogram (ECG) parameters and stroke in AF have yielded conflicting results.
  • Identifying reliable ECG markers for stroke risk in AF patients remains a clinical challenge.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the hypothesis that the atrial fibrillatory rate (AFR) from surface ECG lead V1 is associated with stroke risk in AF patients.
  • To determine if AFR can serve as a useful tool for identifying high-risk individuals for stroke.

Main Methods:

  • Compared AFR in 79 AF patients with embolic stroke to 79 matched AF controls without stroke.
  • AFR was determined using spatiotemporal QRST cancellation and time-frequency analysis of lead V1.
  • Clinical and echocardiographic variables were assessed for differences between groups.

Main Results:

  • No significant differences in clinical or echocardiographic variables were observed between stroke and control groups.
  • The overall AFR was 373 ± 55 fpm, with no significant difference between stroke (369 ± 54 fpm) and control (378 ± 56 fpm) groups.
  • An inverse correlation between AFR and age was noted, with older individuals (>85 years) exhibiting a lower AFR.

Conclusions:

  • Atrial fibrillatory rate derived from surface ECG lead V1 is not a significant risk marker for stroke in patients with atrial fibrillation.
  • The findings suggest that AFR is unlikely to be a valuable tool for stratifying stroke risk in AF populations.
Abstract

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