Patients’ Experiences of Living with Atrial Fibrillation: A Mixed Methods Study
Table 1
Demographic and characteristics of patients.
Patient characteristics
Patients N = 191
Median values
Age, years (25th–75th)
61 (54–69)
Sex, male
12
Marital status
Married/living with partner
14
Single
5
Educational level
Primary school
2
Upper secondary school
4
High school
5
University degree
8
Employment
Employed
12
Unemployed
1
Retired
6
Years since AF diagnosis (range)
5 (1–31)
Pattern of AF
Paroxysmal
14
Persistent
5
Frequency of AF during the last 3 months
<5 occasions
4
5–15 occasions
7
16–30 occasions
3
Persistent
5
Usual duration of AF episodes
1 to <7 hours
4
7 to <24 hours
7
24 hours to <2 days
1
2 to 7 days
1
>7 days
5
Comorbidities
Hypertension
8
Diabetes mellitus
3
Heart failure
4
COPD
2
Ischemic heart disease
2
Stroke/subarachnoid haemorrhage
1/1
Treatment
Pacemaker/ICD
1/1
Antiarrhythmic medication
Class I
6
Class II
14
Class III
6
Class IV
2
Digoxin
0
Anticoagulants
19
AF = atrial fibrillation; ICD = implantable cardioverter defibrillator; COPD = chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Median values are presented with 25th to 75th percentiles within brackets. Patients can have more than one antiarrhythmic drug. All patients on anticoagulants were treated with warfarin/Waran. 1One patient was interviewed only and did not complete the questionnaires.