The impact of obesity on early postoperative atrial fibrillation burden

Obesity has been linked to the development of postoperative atrial fibrillation. This study is aimed at investigating the role of body mass index in the evolution of de novo, early postoperative atrial fibrillation by assessing differences between obese and nonobese patients undergoing cardiac surgery.

Patients with early de novo postoperative atrial fibrillation were included. Continuous cardiac rhythms were recorded during the first 5 postoperative days in obese (N = 67, 66 ± 9 years; 51 [76%] male) and nonobese (N = 89, 69 ± 9; 75 [84%] male) patients without a history of atrial fibrillation undergoing cardiac surgery. Postoperative atrial fibrillation burden was defined as the ratio between total duration of all atrial fibrillation episodes and total recording time (atrial fibrillation burden, %).

A total of 1191 (median: 5/patient) postoperative atrial fibrillation episodes were identified in the obese group compared with 1218 (median: 4/patient) in the nonobese group. The median duration and number of prolonged (>60 minutes) postoperative atrial fibrillation episodes were higher in obese patients (250 vs 145 minutes, P = .003, and median of 2 vs 1 episode, P = .031). Obesity was associated with a larger early postoperative atrial fibrillation burden (obese patients: median, 7%; interquartile range, 2.5-19.7 vs nonobese patients: median, 3.2%; interquartile range, 0.5-8.8, P = .001) mainly on the third postoperative day (P = .021).

Obesity predisposes to a larger number of prolonged atrial fibrillation episodes in the early postoperative period after cardiac surgery for coronary artery disease or valvular heart disease. The higher atrial fibrillation burden in the early postoperative period occurred particularly on the third day. Future studies will determine whether obesity prevention may play a key role in reducing the incidence of postoperative atrial fibrillation in patients undergoing cardiac surgery.