Race and stroke in an atrial fibrillation inception cohort: Findings from the Penn Atrial Fibrillation Free study.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Stroke may be the initial manifestation of atrial fibrillation (AF). Limited studies, however, have evaluated racial differences in stroke before the diagnosis of AF.

Objective

We assessed racial differences in strokes that occurred before and after AF diagnosis in the Penn Atrial Fibrillation Free study.

Methods

The Penn Atrial Fibrillation Free study consists of 56,835 patients from the University of Pennsylvania Health System who were free of AF at the index visit. We developed an inception cohort of 3507 patients with incident AF and without any remote history of stroke.

Results

Among the AF inception cohort, there were 538 patients with ischemic strokes and 54 with hemorrhagic strokes. Nearly half (n = 254; 47%) of the ischemic strokes occurred

SUBMITTER: Patel PJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5879006 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature