Evaluating the effect of iron deficiency on atrial fibrillation inpatient admission in the United States: A population analysis

Department

Internal Medicine

Document Type

Article

Publication Title

International Journal of Medicine and Medical Sciences

Abstract

Atrial fibrillation is the most common sustained tachyarrhythmia in the general adult population. There is evidence suggesting that both iron deficiency (ID) and iron deficiency anemia (IDA) can lead to considerable left ventricular remodeling and can predispose to cardiac conduction abnormalities. The prevalence of ID is estimated to be double that of IDA, therefore the study focused investigations on both states. To assess if ID is associated with worse outcomes in persons admitted for atrial fibrillation/flutter (AF). This study utilized the National Inpatient Sample (NIS) database to identify patients with a principal diagnosis of AF and then to identify those with concomitant ID (using ICD-9/10). Multivariate regression was used to analyze outcomes while adjusting for confounders. A total of 1,889,319 patients were analyzed. There was no statistically significant difference in mortality in the AF-ID group and the AF only (AF-O) group. In the multivariate adjusted model; length of hospital stay was 3.27 days in AF-O group and 4.56 days in AF-ID group (p< 0.001), total hospital cost was $43,293.38 in AF-O group and $54,328.87 in AF-ID group (p< 0.001). In-hospital respiratory failure (OR 1.34 95% CI 1.26-1.43, p< 0.001) and major bleeding (OR 2.91 95% CI 2.75-3.08, p< 0.001) also had a stronger association with AF-ID. This study suggests that the presence of ID does not affect in-patient mortality in the AF patient population. ID is however associated with increased length of stay, total hospital charges, major bleeding and in-hospital respiratory failure. Future interventional studies should be pursued to help identify and quantify any clinical benefit of iron supplementation in this group.

First Page

43

Last Page

48

DOI

10.5897/IJMMS2024.1509

Volume

17

Issue

2

Publication Date

7-1-2025

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