34 CHAPTER 3 in the past. The most prevalent comorbidity registered was hypertension (47.6%), followed by diabetes mellitus (26.1%), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (11.1%), renal impairment (10.7%), and prior myocardial infarction (9.2%). A complete list of all baseline characteristics, stratified by new-onset AF/AFL during hospitalisation and history of AF/AFL is presented in Table 1. Baseline characteristics stratified by other arrhythmias and conduction disorders are presented in Supplementary File S1. All variables had <3% missing, except for peripheral arterial disease (21.6%), BMI (24.7%), temperature (17.8%), C-reactive protein (12.2%), and white blood cell count (11.4%). Prevalence of AF/AFL The prevalence of AF and/or AFL in comparison to other arrhythmias and conduction disorders (recurrent and new-onset) during hospitalisation is summarised in Figure 1. Of all patients, 12.8% (95% CI 11.9–13.6) (n=737) experienced an arrhythmic event during hospitalisation, the vast majority being supraventricular (95.9%). AF and AFL were most common, occurring in 12.0% (95% CI 11.2–12.8) (n=692) of all patients, of which 86.7% (95% CI 84.0–89.1) (n=600) experienced only AF, 8.5% (95% CI 6.6–10.8) (n=59) experienced only AFL, and 4.8% (95% CI 3.4–6.6) (n=33) experienced both AF and AFL. In 60.7% (95% CI 57.0–64.3) (n=420) of patients the development of AF and/ or AFL was new-onset, whereas in the remaining 39.3% (95% CI 35.7–43.0) (n=272) AF and/or AFL had been present before hospital admission. Ventricular arrhythmias were rare (0.8% (95% CI 0.6–1.0)) and 50% of them were sVT or VF (n=23). A conduction disorder during hospitalisation was observed in 6.3% (95% CI 5.7–7.0) (n=365) of all patients. Association between patient characteristics and development of new-onset AF and/or AFL In univariable logistic regression analyses, sex, age, heart failure, hypertension, peripheral arterial disease, prior myocardial infarction, renal impairment, certain drugs, white blood cell count, duration of hospitalisation, and development of pulmonary embolism, showed an increased statistically significant association with the development of AF and/or AFL. Of medical history, heart failure seemed to be most strongly associated with a higher likelihood of developing AF and/or AFL compared to patients without heart failure: OR 1.72 (95% CI 1.05–2.64) (Supplementary File S2). Prognostic impact of new-onset AF and/or AFL on in-hospital mortality In absolute terms, there were only few patients aged <50 years and >90 years in our dataset who developed new-onset AF and/or AFL (n=7 and n=10, respectively). Because these small numbers could affect the reliability and precision of the point estimates of the outcomes to a high extent, only patients aged ≥50 and ≤90 years for new-onset AF and/or AFL were included in the mortality analyses.
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