Table 1. Baseline Characteristics .

AF indicates atrial fibrillation; IE, index encounter; CCB, calcium channel blocker; hosp., hospitalization; IQR, interquartile range.

Characteristic	All Patients(n=79,232)	Rhythm Control(n=12,408)	Rate Control(n=66,824)	p-Value
Age, yrs, median (IQR)	57 (51–61)	57 (51–61)	57 (51–61)	0.08
Male sex, %	64	67	64	<0.0001
Geographic region, %				<0.0001
North central	30	30	30
Northeast	14	9	15
South	39	45	38
West	15	14	15
Unknown	1	1	1
Year of IE, %				<0.0001
2006	9	8	10
2007	17	17	17
2008	24	23	24
2009	27	26	27
2010	23	25	22
Index AF encounter hosp., %	24	40	21	<0.0001
Discharged to self-care, n/N (%)	15,251/18,987 (80)	3913/4945 (79)	11,338/14,042 (81)	0.01
Electrical cardioversion during IE, %	2	7	1	<0.0001
AF ablation during IE, %	0.1	0.4	0.05	<0.0001
AF is the primary diagnosis during IE, %	82	87	81	<0.0001
Hosp. in 6 months before IE, %
Cardiovascular	17	28	15	<0.0001
Non-cardiovascular	17	21	16	<0.0001
Medical history, %
Atrial flutter	9	17	8	<0.0001
Ischemic heart disease	20	27	19	<0.0001
Diabetes	20	20	20	0.3
Hypertension	51	56	50	<0.0001
Heart failure	12	17	11	<0.0001
Cardiomyopathy	1	2	1	<0.0001
Chronic rheumatic heart disease	2	4	2	<0.0001
Other atrial arrhythmias	5	6	4	<0.0001
Bradyarrhythmias	2	3	2	<0.0001
Pacemaker	0.1	0.4	0.1	<0.0001
Renal failure	6	7	5	<0.0001
Liver disease	3	3	3	0.1
Thyroid disease	10	10	10	0.1
Pulmonary disease	14	17	13	<0.0001
Cancer	9	12	9	<0.0001
Stroke	5	6	5	<0.0001
Cerebral hemorrhage	0.3	0.3	0.3	0.8
Depression	7	6	7	0.6
Obesity	8	11	7	<0.0001
Non-rheumatic valvular heart disease	15	22	14	<0.0001
Bleeding	3	3	3	0.1
Drug use during or within 6 months before IE, %
Rate-controlling drugs
Beta-blocker alone	35	73	67	<0.0001
Digoxin alone	2	2	4	<0.0001
CCB alone	6	10	11	<0.0001
Combination of drugs	9	7	9	<0.0001
QT-prolonging drugs
Definite	3	3	3	0.96
Possible	17	16	17	<0.0001
Warfarin/dabigatran	33	41	32	<0.0001