Among nongeriatric atrial fibrillation patients without structural heart disease, those on dronedarone had a greater risk of atrial fibrillation, cardiovascular, and all-cause hospitalizations, compared with patients on amiodarone, sotalol, and class Ic drugs, a study published in Circulation showed. Amiodarone had the lowest risk of atrial fibrillation and cardiovascular hospitalizations, but not overall hospitalizations.
Dr. Nancy M. Allen LaPointe
Nancy M. Allen LaPointe, Pharm. D., of the Duke University Medical Center, Durham, N.C., and her associates identified 8,562 atrial fibrillation patients on antiarrhythmic drugs (with a median age of 56 years) from the MarketScan database between 2006 and 2010, and found that the risk of hospitalization for atrial fibrillation was greater with dronedarone than class Ic drugs (hazard ratio, 1.59; 95% confidence interval, 1.13-2.24), amiodarone (HR, 2.63; 1.77-3.89), and sotalol (HR, 1.72; CI, 1.17-2.54), but was lower with amiodarone versus class Ic (HR, 0.68; CI, 0.57-0.80) drugs and sotalol (HR, 0.63; CI, 0.53-0.75).
“There are many potential reasons for these differences in hospitalization rates, including differences in side effects and efficacy of each drug in this patient population. … Additional studies are needed to confirm our findings and focus on potential explanations for differences in hospitalization rates for different AADs [antiarrhythmic drugs],” the investigators wrote.
Read the full article here: Circ. Cardiovasc. Qual. Outcomes 2015 (doi:10.1161/circoutcomes.114.001499).