Stroke Prevention Therapy and Prevalence of Risk Factors Among Patients With Atrial Fibrillation at King Fahad University Hospital in Al Khobar: A Retrospective, Single-Center Study

Background Atrial fibrillation is the most common cardiac arrhythmia in clinical practice. It represents a significant health impact as it is greatly associated with increased risk of mortality and morbidity, most importantly stroke and systemic thromboembolism. Aim This study aims to determine the risk factors of atrial fibrillation, to identify stroke and bleeding risk factors among patients with atrial fibrillation, to assess the trend of stroke prevention management and the influence of CHA2DS2-VASc and HAS-BLED scores on choosing the treatment. Methods This study was performed using all the medical records of 395 patients with Atrial fibrillation who were admitted between 2011-2019 at King Fahd University Hospital, Al-Khobar, Saudi Arabia. The review process included demographic data of the patients and the calculation of stroke and bleeding risk by CHA2DS2-VASc and HAS-BLED scores. Results The median age of the population was 72 years old. Hypertension was the most common risk factor for atrial fibrillation (78.2%), followed by diabetes mellitus (61.0%), dyslipidemia (60.0%), coronary artery disease (41.0%), myocardial infarction (18.7%), and congestive heart failure (29.4%). Regarding the management, (42.5%) of the patients were on a combination of both anticoagulants and antiplatelet therapy, while (33.2%) were on anticoagulant therapy only, (17.5%) were on antiplatelets only, and (5.8%) were not on medication. The increased use of anticoagulants and combined therapy was related to the percentage of a high-risk group of thromboembolic events reaching up to (34.5%) and (45.7%), respectively, which is statistically significant. Moreover, the prescription of warfarin declined in the last five years of our study, while the use of non-vitamin K antagonist oral anticoagulants increased. Conclusion Atrial fibrillation is more prevalent in females, hypertension was the most common risk factor for atrial fibrillation, followed by diabetes mellitus, and dyslipidemia. Most of the studied population was categorized as a high risk of stroke and bleeding according to CHA2DS2-VASc and HAS- BLED scores. The majority of the atrial fibrillation patient were taking anticoagulants and combined treatment as a stroke prevention therapy. Non-vitamin K antagonist oral anticoagulant prescription increased over warfarin in recent years.