Table 1.

Sociodemographic and clinical characteristics of the patients

	Intermittent AF (n=52)	Chronic AF (n=83)	P
Age, years [median (interquartile range)]	63 (55-69)	64 (56-72)	0.39
Male	29 (56%)	49 (59%)	0.70
LV EF (%)	58.8±7.0	53.4±11.2	<0.001
LA dimension, mm	42.9±5.4	48.2±7.6	0.02
Hypertension	26 (50%)	50 (60%)	0.24
Diabetes mellitus	9 (17%)	19 (23%)	0.43
Valvular heart disease	6 (12%)	31 (37%)	0.001
Coronary artery disease	9 (17%)	17 (20%)	0.64
Cardiomyopathy	3 (6%)	14 (17%)	0.06
Congenital heart disease	2 (4%)	1 (1%)	0.31
Pacemaker	6 (11%)	3 (4%)	0.07
Prior embolic event	5 (10%)	13 (16%)	0.31
Number of CV’s	0.4±0.9	0.3±0.9	0.70
Number of emergency room visits†	1.5±2.2	1.2±2.2	0.48
Number of hospitalizations†	0.9±1.2	0.5±0.8	0.03
Number of specialist visits†	3.3±3.5	3.5±5.0	0.72
Drugs
Amiodarone	12 (23%)	1 (1.2%)	<0.001
Propafenone	10 (19%)	1 (1.2%)	<0.001
Beta blocker	28 (54%)	50 (60%)	0.46
Verapamil	4 (7.7%)	6 (7.2%)	0.92
Diltiazem	5 (9.6%)	11 (13.3%)	0.52
Digoxin	4 (8%)	19 (23%)	0.02
Warfarin	29 (56%)	62 (75%)	0.02
Acetylsalicylic acid	13 (25%)	18 (22%)	0.65
Clopidogrel	5 (9.6%)	6 (7.2%)	0.62

Data is presented as mean±standard deviation

^†within the past year

AF - atrial fibrillation; CV - cardioversion; LA - left atrium; LV EF - left ventricle ejection fraction. The comparisons of categorical variables between the groups were made with Fisher’s Exact Test. Continous variables were compared by using unpaired Student’s t-test, except for the “Age” variable which was compared with the Mann–Whitney U test.