Relationship between chronic atrial fibrillation and worse outcomes in stroke patients after intravenous thrombolysis

Background: It is unclear whether stroke patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) are prone to adverse outcomes following treatment with intravenous recombinant tissue plasminogen activator, and whether the burden of AF affects these outcomes. Objective: To investigate the contribution of AF (whether it be a first-detected episode of AF or chronic AF) to stroke outcomes in patients treated with intravenous recombinant tissue plasminogen activator. Design: Retrospective study. Setting: Academic hospital. Patients: Consecutive patients with acute ischemic stroke who received intravenous recombinant tissue plasminogen activator within 3 hours from symptom onset were included. Vascular risk factors, stroke characteristics, and outcome measures were compared between patients with and without AF. Main Outcome Measures: Symptomatic intracranial hemorrhage and poor functional recovery (modified Rankin Scale score of >2). Results: Of the 214 patients who were studied (mean [SD] age, 74 [14] years, with 50% of patients being men), 21 had a first-detected episode of AF, and 55 had chronic AF. The incidence of symptomatic intracranial hemorrhage was significantly higher in patients with chronic AF than in patients without AF (16% vs 5%), and the incidence of poor functional recovery was significantly higher in patients with chronic AF than in patients without AF (62% vs 44%). The increase in risk of symptomatic intracranial hemorrhage (but not in poor functional recovery) among patients with chronic AF remained significant after adjusting for age and baseline National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale score (odds ratio, 2.95 [95% CI, 1.12-9.30]). Patients with chronic AF who developed a symptomatic intracranial hemorrhage had a longer duration of AF than those who did not (59 vs 23 months), and patients with chronic AF who had a poor functional recovery had a longer duration of AF than those who did not (36 vs 16 months) (P<.05). By contrast, there were no differences in outcomes between patients with a first-detected episode of AF and those without AF, and between patients with paroxysmal AF and those with persistent or permanent AF. Conclusions: Patients with chronic AF have worse stroke outcomes than do patients without AF, and the risk for worse outcomes was greater in patients with a longer duration of AF.