Chronic kidney disease and cardiovascular mortality in patients with atrial fibrillation: European Society of Hypertension project – ESH A Fib

Our aim was to analyze characteristics of atrial fibrillation (AF) patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) from the Croatian cohort of the ESH A Fib survey and to determine the association of estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) with cardiovascular (CV) mortality after 24 months of follow-up. Consecutive sample of 301 patients with AF were enrolled in the period 2014 to 2018. Hypertension was defined as BP > 140/90 mm Hg and/or antihypertensive drugs treatment, CKD was defined as eGFR (CKD Epi) < 60 ml/min/1.73 m(2) which was confirmed after 3 months. CKD was diagnosed in 45.2% of patients (13.3% in CKD stage > 3b). CKD patients were older than non-CKD and had significantly more frequent coronary heart disease, heart failure and valvular disease. CKD patients had significantly higher CHA(2)DS(2)-VASc score and more CKD than non-CKD patients had CHA(2)DS(2)-VASc > 2. Crude CV mortality rate per 1000 population at the end of the first year of the follow-up was significantly higher in CKD vs non-CKD group who had shorter mean survival time. CV mortality was independently associated with eGFR, male gender, CHA(2)DS(2)VASc and R(2)CHA(2)DS(2)VASc scores. Prevalence of CKD, particularly more advanced stages of CKD, is very high in patients with AF. Observed higher CV mortality and shorter mean survival time in CKD patients could be explained with higher CHA(2)DS(2)VASc score which is a consequence of clustering of all score components in CKD patients. However, eGFR was independently associated with CV mortality. In our cohort, R(2)CHA(2)DS(2)VASc score was not associated significantly more with CV mortality than CHA(2)DS(2)VASc score.