Use of Anticoagulant Warfarin in Patients Presenting With Atrial Fibrillation in a Tertiary Level Hospital

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common sustained arrhythmia in the World, occurring in approximately 0.4% of the general population. The purpose of the present study was to see the trend of use of warfarin in hospital admitted patients with atrial fibrillation. It was conducted in the department of cardiology, University Cardiac Centre, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University, Dhaka, Bangladesh from January 2008 to January 2009. A total of 150 patients with atrial fibrillation were enrolled in this study. Out of them, male were 60(40%) and female 90(60%); age range 22-79 years. Most common presenting symptoms were palpitation (80%) & dyspnoea (70%). Chronic rheumatic heart disease (Mitral stenosis) (33%) was found in most cases followed by IHD (22%), hypertension (21%). According to CHADS₂ score, most of the patients belonged to moderate risk group (47%) and 32% in low risk group. Anticoagulation with warfarin was used in 40% cases of valvular AF & 25% patients with non valvular AF. Among non valvular AF, it was prescribed for 38% in high risk group, 34% in moderate risk & 3% in low risk group. The study states that warfarin is underused in both valvular & non valvular AF.