Risk factors and survival analysis of arrhythmia following lung cancer surgery: a retrospective study

Surgical treatment of lung cancer is one of the important treatments for early-stage non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). However, arrhythmia, especially atrial fibrillation (AF) and supraventricular arrhythmia, are quite common among patients after surgical treatment of lung cancer. The impact of postoperative arrhythmia (PA) on survival is rarely reported. Our aim was to evaluate the risk factors of PA and its impact on overall survival (OS) after lung cancer surgery.

A total of 344 patients diagnosed with NSCLC who underwent lung cancer surgery were enrolled in this study. These patients were divided into two groups based on the occurrence of PA. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were conducted to identify the risk factors of PA. The Kaplan-Meier method was applied to show the OS differences between the two groups.

The incidence of PA was 16% (55/344). Among these 55 patients, 20 had AF, 30 had sinus tachycardia, and 5 had premature beats. A total of 332 patients underwent lung cancer radical resection. Operation type (P<0.001), preoperative abnormal ECG (P=0.032), transfusion (P=0.016), postoperative serum potassium concentration (P=0.001) and clinical stage (P<0.05) were risk factors for PA. PA (HR 2.083, 95% CI, 1.334-3.253; P=0.001), age (HR 1.543, 95% CI, 1.063-2.239; P=0.025) and mediastinal lymph node metastasis (HR 2.655, 95% CI, 1.809-3.897; P<0.001) were independent prognostic risk factors for OS by multivariate cox analysis.

We identified PA as an independent prognostic risk factor to predict poor OS in patients who underwent lung cancer surgery and had risk factors for PA. We therefore provides guidance for PA in improving the prognosis of lung cancer patients.