Predictors of electrical vs pharmacologic cardioversion in critically ill patients with atrial fibrillation

Sidra Ambreen
Additional contact information
Sidra Ambreen: Harvard Medical School

2026 Stata Conference from Stata Users Group

Abstract: Atrial fibrillation (AF) is common in critically ill patients and may worsen hemodynamic instability. Cardioversion is often required for rhythm control. Factors influencing the choice between electrical and pharmacologic cardioversion remain unclear. This study evaluated whether clinical variables, including age, acute coronary syndrome, acute respiratory failure, chronic heart failure, and hypertension, are associated with cardioversion strategy. A retrospective observational study was conducted using the Atrial Fibrillation in Critically Ill dataset. Critically ill adult patients with preexisting AF admitted to the ICU were included. The primary outcome was cardioversion strategy (electrical versus pharmacologic) during hospitalization. Predictor variables included age, ACS, ARF, CHF, and HTN. Multivariable logistic regression analysis was performed using Stata (BE 19) to estimate adjusted odds ratios with 95% confidence intervals. Among 1,705 critically ill patients with AF, 179 (10.5%) underwent electrical cardioversion and 290 (17.0%) received pharmacologic cardioversion. ARF was present in 397 patients (23.3%), ACS in 212 patients (12.4%), CHF in 693 patients (40.6%), and HTN in 838 patients (49.1%). Hypertension was associated with increased electrical cardioversion, possibly representing a more stable patient subset. Overall, these findings support a context-driven approach to cardioversion in critically ill patients, prioritizing physiologic stability and reversibility of illness.

Date: 2026-10-03
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://repec.org/usug2026/US26_Ambreen.pdf

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:boc:usug26:12

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in 2026 Stata Conference from Stata Users Group Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Christopher F Baum ().