Background: Atrial Fibrillation (AF) is a common, growing and serious cardiac rhythm disturbance that is responsible for considerable morbidity and mortality. Due to rising prevalence of hypertension and diabetes the number of patients presenting with non-valvular atrial fibrillation is increasing.

Aim: To study the etiology and clinical presentation of patients admitted with non-valvular atrial fibrillation.

Methods: This is a retrospective observational study of non-valvular atrial fibrillation (NVAF) patients admitted under cardiology unit during the period July 2017 to December 2018. Diagnosis of atrial fibrillation was made by 12-lead ECG. Patients underwent thorough physical examination, routine laboratory testing, Echocardiogram and other relevant investigations based on comorbid conditions.

Results: A total of 75 patients with non-valvular atrial fibrillation were enrolled in the study. Many patients had more than one risk factors for AF, which included obesity (69.4%), hypertension (53.3%), diabetes (42.7%), age more than 65 years (41.3%) and coronary artery disease (CAD) (22.7%). Echocardiographic mean left atrial size was 40.2 mm and many patients had elevated LA volume. Septal E/E’ was elevated in 65.3% of patients in this study, and the majority of the patients (89.3%) had a CHA2DS2-VASc score of 2 or more requiring anticoagulation.

Conclusion: Hypertension, obesity, diabetes and age more than 65 years are observed to be major risk factors for non-valvular atrial fibrillation in this study. Enforcing healthy lifestyle, early screening, appropriate evaluation and control of modifiable risk factors can reduce the risk of non- valvular atrial fibrillation and its consequences

Keywords: Non-valvular atrial fibrillation, left atrial volume, Diastolic dysfunction, Anticoagulation.

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Dr Dhinakaran Krishnamurthy, DNB (Med), DNB (Cardiology)

Consultant Cardiologist, AMC Super Speciality Hospital, Tirupur, Tamil Nadu, India