Echocardiographic Findings in Jordanian Atrial Fibrillation Patients: Analysis from Jo-Fib Study

TL;DR

This study analyzed echocardiographic findings in Jordanian atrial fibrillation patients and found that most had normal heart function, with notable differences in left atrial enlargement between genders.

Contribution

The study provides the first insights into echocardiographic findings for atrial fibrillation in a Middle Eastern population.

Findings

Most patients had normal ejection fraction (EF) at enrollment.

Left atrial enlargement was more common in females compared to males.

Pulmonary hypertension was observed in 27.9% of patients and was associated with decreased EF and older age.

Abstract

Background and Objectives: Atrial fibrillation (AF) carries a huge socioeconomic burden as it is the most encountered cardiac arrhythmia with a significant morbidity. Echocardiographic (Echo) imaging is of monumental value in providing insight into assessing the cardiac function and anatomy, etiology, and risk stratification of AF patients, which will ultimately lead to the best management plan. Materials and Methods: A total of 2160 adult patients diagnosed with AF in 18 hospitals and 30 out-patient cardiology clinics in Jordan and 1 hospital in the Palestinian Territories were enrolled in this study from May 2019 to January 2021. Ultimately, 1776 patients were included in the analysis after going through the exclusion criteria. Results: The majority of our participants were found to have normal EF at the time of enrollment, with only 31.6% exhibiting a decreased EF. Only 40% of overall patients had Echo evidence of left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH). These patients were older (70.27 ± 10.1 vs. 66.0 ± 14.3, p < 0.001), more obese (45.2% vs. 37.3%, p-value < 0.001), and had a more frequent occurrence of HTN (89.0% vs. 65.6%, p < 0.001) and DM (49.2% vs. 40.1%, p < 0.001) when compared to patients without LVH. A proportion of 84.2% of female patients had abnormal left atrial (LA) size (>3.8 cm), in contrast to only 53.4% of males (LA > 4.2 cm). Pulmonary hypertension (PH) was only observed in 27.9% of our patients, and when comparing patients with PH vs. patients without PH, decreased EF (<50%) (36.9% vs. 20.6%, p = 0.001), a higher prevalence of OSA (6.7% vs. 3.8%, p = 0.009), female predominance (60.3% vs. 39.7%, p < 0.001), and older age (70.2 ± 10.7 vs. 66.7 ± 13.6, p < 0.001) were observed in patients with PH. Conclusion: This study provides the first reported insights on the atrial fibrillation-related echocardiographic findings in a Middle Eastern population. Notably, our study demonstrates that the majority of the studied population have no evidence of LVH and have preserved EF on baseline. However, LA enlargement was extremely frequent among females but not in males, warranting further evaluation to determine the factors contributing to such a difference.

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