Education level predicts mortality and morbidity in hospitalised patients with atrial fibrillation

Education level has been long considered a life-quality modifier, but little is known about its relation to life expectancy in patients with cardiovascular disease. This study aims to assess possible correlations between education level and survival in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF).

This retrospective cohort study used data from a randomised trial of 1082 hospitalised patients with AF (mean age of 75 ± 11 years) who were followed up after discharge. Patients were divided into three groups based on their education level: i) none or primary (NPEL), ii) secondary (SEL), and iii) tertiary education level (TEL). Kaplan-Meier curves and multivariable-adjusted hazard ratios (aHRs) were used to compare survival rates between groups. The primary outcome was all-cause mortality. The composite secondary outcome was cardiovascular mortality or any hospitalisation.

After a median 31-month follow-up period, 289 (41.9%) patients died in the NPEL group, 75 (31.1%) in the SEL group, and 29 (19.1%) in the TEL group. The aHRs for all-cause mortality were 0.42 (95% CI, 0.27 to 0.66; p < 0.001) for the TEL group compared with the NPEL group, 0.55 (95% CI, 0.33 to 0.93; p = 0.02) for the TEL group compared with the SEL group, and 0.68 (95% CI, 0.50 to 0.93; p = 0.01) for the SEL group compared with the NPEL group. The corresponding aHRs for the composite secondary outcome were 0.36 (95% CI, 0.23 to 0.52; p < 0.001), 0.49 (95% CI, 0.29 to 0.80; p < 0.001), and 0.67 (95% CI, 0.50 to 9.91; p = 0.01).

Higher education levels were independently associated with fewer fatal and non-fatal outcomes in recently hospitalised patients with AF.