Many studies, report 15–40% AF incidence within 1–5 days after surgery [8]. Its clinical significance depends on the underlying factor. Within the first 2 h, 30% of POAF cases recover spontaneously. It has been reported that 25–80% of POAF cases recover in 24 h by using only the digoxin [9]. Mathew et al. reported that POAF was affected by older age, male gender, HT, AF history, heart failure, valvular disease, COPD, preoperative digoxin use, and non-use of beta-blockers preoperatively [10]. The incidence of POAF has been reported be more in cases whose surgery encompasses pulmonary vent placement and/or bicaval cannulation [10]. Since our series consisted of coronary artery bypass cases, bicaval cannulation and pulmonary venting were not performed. 88% of the POAF cases developed within postoperative 1-5th days and 98% of these recovered within 1–3 days. As the LVEF value decreased, the incidence of POAF increased but the relationship was not significant (Figs. 3 and 4). Significant results may be obtained, however, in the series in which very low LVEF cases are included. In our cases, it was found that DM, MS, obesity, and advanced age had affected POAF positively. On the other hand, significant negative correlation (6.9%) between POAF and beta-blocker use was detected (Table 1; Fig. 2). However, statin and ACE inhibitor use were not found to be correlated with POAF (p > 0.05). Mathew et al. [10] have found an association between ACE inhibitor or statin use and POAF, which can be explained by the fact that the number of cases using these drugs was higher than our count. It was found that POAF significantly increased the length of hospitalization and ICU stay, and the stroke rate (Figs. 3, 4 and 6).
Roffman et al. reported that as the number of bypass grafts or the CPB duration increases, the rate of arrhythmia increases [11]. As Bannister et al. reported, the increase in CPB duration deranges the mechanism by which glucose is transported into the cell and thus blood glucose level is elevated. As a result, metabolic acidosis occurs. When the patient is warming up, the insulin response increases but hyperglycemia persists for another 1–2 h. In addition, the metabolism of thyroid hormones is affected and the level of triiodothyronine (T3) falls [12]. In our study, there was no difference between the number of bypasses, and total and partial CPB durations of the cases (Table 1, Fig. 4). If studies with groups with different total and partial CPB durations are performed, it could be analyzed whether this difference is a factor affecting POAF or not.
Studies have reported 34% prevalence of abdominal obesity in the population of 20 years of age and over in Turkey [13]. Although abdominal obesity is an important indicator of insulin resistance, obesity may not be present in some of the metabolic syndrome cases with insulin resistance. As the BMI increases, there is a gradual increase in left atrial dimensions. Ducceschi et al. reported that they found higher frequency of AF and left atrial dilatation in a series of 150 cases with BMI ≥30 kg/m2 [14]. In atrial biopsies of patients with atrial fibrillation, inflammatory mediators were detected high. This may explain the development of AF from postoperative inflammation [15]. It is believed that abdominal obesity increases the level of inflammatory cells and facilitates the development of AF with the released mediators. Adipose tissue is an active endocrine organ that secretes many hormones like leptin, resistin, adiponectin, and cytokines (TNF-alpha, IL-6, IL-8). Released cytokines cause systemic inflammation and affect insulin resistance and pulmonary functions [16]. In our study, we found that both high BMI measurements and high WC scores affected POAF significantly (p = 0.001). The mean WC value was 90.1 ± 12.6 cm in the POAF developed cases while it was 81.6 ± 14 cm in the cases that had not developed POAF (Table 2). Although WC values were higher in cases with postoperative complications such as mortality, infection, bleeding and stroke, it was found to be significant only in cases developing stroke and infection (Table 2).
The body mass index is an indicator of total fat accumulation and does not represent the distribution of fat or metabolic distress. It has also been reported in previous studies that obesity is defined by BMI and is an independent risk factor for POAF [17]. There have been recent reports that conclude obesity has no effect on POAF [17]. Differences between studies may be related to the heterogeneous distribution of fat and the rate of accumulation of cardiotoxic metabolites. In parallel with most centers, our opinion is that WC measurement is more reliable than BMI as a diagnostic parameter for MS. In our study, we found that the incidence of POAF was affected by obesity by 1.65-fold while by MS by 2.46-fold (Fig. 2).
In MS, endothelial dysfunction has been reported to develop before clinical symptoms occur [18]. This may contribute to the view that endothelial dysfunction plays a role in the development of POAF in MS. Almassi et al. reported 2-fold higher hospital mortality (3% versus 6%) in post-operative AF cases [19]. The 6-month mortality rate was reported to be 4.7% vs 9%. We think that this mortality difference is due to the factors that paved the way for POAF development in addition to POAF. Since the duration of follow up in our study was limited to the length of hospitalization, it was not possible to determine the mid and long-term mortality. However, hospital mortality was not significantly different between POAF and Non-POAF cases (2.2%). Mortality of cases diagnosed with MS was found to be increased by 2.4 times (Figs. 1 and 5) with POAF, whereas by 1.7 times without POAF. As it is understood from these results, it would be incomplete to think that only POAF increases mortality. POAF also increases postoperative morbidity. In cases with MS, POAF was found to increase the length of the hospitalization by 31% (p = 0.001). In our study, we found that MS increased the infection and stroke incidence by 1.9-fold while the stroke was more frequent in patients in MS cases who developed POAF (Figs. 2, 3 and 6).
Geographical region and race were found to be effective in the development of POAF as following regional incidences indicate: Middle East (41.6%), USA (33.7%), Europe (34%), Canada (36.6%), South America (17.4%), Asia (15.7%) [20]. This differentiation may be related to the incidence of MS as well as indicating that the white race is more prone to POAF. However, there is a need for meta-analyzes of large series and cohort studies in which the accompanying factors are examined. In our cases, the incidence of POAF is 21.3%, similar to the geographical distribution, though the 32.6% incidence rate of POAF in MS cases s differentiated from the literature data. In addition, the prevalence rate of MS in our series (30%) was similar to the prevalence of MS in the literature (33%) [2].
The incidence of AF in the general population (0.4–1%) has been reported to increase by age such that it is 8% over the age of 80 [21]. In elderly patients, the increase in the rate of POAF is also due to changes in the cardiac fibrosis and atrial dilation [22]. In our series, in the cases without MS, the rate of AF which was 25% in the 18–35 age group increased to 27.4% in the 56–78 age group. However, in cases where metabolic syndrome was added, these rates increased up to 50% (Table 1). The rate of postoperative infection in the same age group was 9.9% (p = 0.026). Effect of the age on the length of hospitalization in the POAF developed cases was found to be 10.7% (p = 0.012) and that was statistically significant (Table 1). We think that besides the degree of atrial fibrosis increasing with age, MS which is more common in older ages is also effective on the increase of POAF incidence. In addition to such preventable causes as surgical dissection, manipulation, pericardial injury, pericarditis, left ventricular dysfunction and atrial dilation due to intraoperative volume overload, electrolyte irregularities, and blood transfusion, techniques for administering the cardioplegia and inadequate atrial cooling could activate the complement system through oxidative stress-induced release of inflammatory mediators [23]. Supporters of this theory argue that the use of anti-inflammatory drugs together with corticosteroids and statins reduces the rate of POAF [10, 24]. Since all our cases had similar temperatures and durations of CPB, we believe that the effect of such confounding factors on the results was not significant.
It has been reported that 60% of postoperative AF cases have HT [24]. Patti et al., report that HT is an independent risk factor for POAF [25]. In our study, the AF rate (27%) in the cases with HT was found to be significant. Hospital mortality in those with HT was twice as high. Blood pressure control can be an important strategy in preventing AF.
We observed that the incidence of stroke was 8,85 times as high (Figs. 2, 3 and 6) in patients with atrial fibrillation. Our treatment strategy was to restore hemodynamic stability, prevent thromboembolism, and eliminate metabolic problems. The choice of anticoagulant treatment for sustaining AF cases was done according to the CHA2DS2VASC scoring system. Guidelines issued by the ESC in 2010 recommended the use of the CHA2DS2VASC scoring system [26]. By utilizing this scoring system created with large series, the expected risk of thromboembolism is calculated, and the appropriate anticoagulant treatment is determined.