Background

There are limited data on the association of minor troponin elevation in unselected patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) presenting to the emergency department (ED) with adverse events. In this study, we sought to assess the early and mid-term mortality of these patients.

Methods

In this observational study, 2911 patients with AF were admitted to the ED. They were divided into 3 groups based on peak high-sensitivity troponin (TnT) levels: normal (<15 ng/L), 15-50 ng/L and 51-100 ng/L. The primary outcomes of this study were all-cause mortality at 30 days and 1 year.

Results

All-cause mortality was 6.7% (n = 196) at 30 days and 22.2% (n = 646) at 1 year. Mortality rate increased along with increasing levels of TnT irrespective of baseline covariates, primary discharge diagnosis and type of AF. A significant association between TnT levels and all-cause mortality was observed. The adjusted hazard ratio (HR) at 30 days was 6.02 (95% CI 2.62-13.83) for TnT 15-50 ng/L and 11.28 (95% CI 4.87-26.12) for TnT 51-100 ng/L (P<.001 for both) compared to TnT <15 ng/L. At 1 year, the adjusted HRs were 3.08 (95% CI 2.15-4.40) and 5.07 (95% CI 3.49-7.35), respectively (P < .001). When patients with TnT <15 ng/L were divided into two groups at the median value, TnT elevation of 10 to 14 ng/L was also associated with increased 1-year mortality (HR 2.51; 95% CI 1.09-5.74; P = .03).

Conclusions

Among patients with AF admitted to the ED, increased TnT levels were associated with increased early and mid-term all-cause mortality irrespective of baseline covariates and type of AF.