Table 1.
Baseline characteristics of the study population with a comparison between the Netherlands and Belgium
| Variable | NL & BE N = 967 |
The Netherlands N = 648 |
Belgium N = 319 |
NL vs BE | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| N (%) | Missing | N (%) | Missing | N (%) | Missing | p-value | |
| Female sex | 345 (35.7) | – | 231 (35.6) | – | 114 (35.7) | – | 0.978 |
| Age | 69.1 (±10.8) | – | 68.7 (±10.9) | – | 70.0 (±10.6) | – | 0.072 |
| BMI | 28.3 (±5.3) | 45 | 27.9 (±4.9) | 40 | 29.2 (±5.9) | 5 | < 0.001 |
| Inpatient | 415 (42.9) | – | 239 (36.9) | – | 176 (55.2) | – | < 0.001 |
| Outpatient | 552 (57.1) | 409 (63.1) | 143 (44.8) | ||||
| Type of AF | 6 | 3 | 3 | 0.001 | |||
| – First classified | 92 (9.6) | 65 (10.1) | 27 (8.5) | ||||
| – Paroxysmal | 341 (35.5) | 256 (39.7) | 85 (26.9) | ||||
| – Persistent | 324 (33.7) | 196 (30.4) | 128 (40.5) | ||||
| – Long-standing pers | 23 (2.4) | 12 (1.9) | 11 (3.5) | ||||
| – Permanent | 181 (18.8) | 116 (18.0) | 65 (20.6) | ||||
| EHRA mean | 1.8 (±0.8) | 1 | 1.7 (±0.8) | – | 1.8 (±0.8) | 1 | 0.167 |
| EHRA | 0.365 | ||||||
| – 1 | 448 (46.4) | 308 (47.5) | 140 (44.0) | ||||
| – 2 | 329 (34.1) | 219 (33.8) | 210 (34.6) | ||||
| – 3 | 171 (17.7) | 112 (17.3) | 59 (18.6) | ||||
| – 4 | 18 (1.9) | 9 (1.4) | 9 (2.8) | ||||
| Previous PVI | 107 (11.1) | – | 67 (10.3) | – | 40 (12.5) | – | 0.305 |
| LVEF on echocardiogram | 54.4 (±12.0) | 367 | 53.8 (±11.6) | 285 | 55.4 (±12.5) | 82 | 0.098 |
| LA diameter on echocardiogram | 47.6 (±10.3) | 414 | 46.7 (±10.6) | 283 | 49.4 (±9.5) | 131 | 0.003 |
| Lone AF | 117 (12.1) | – | 75 (11.6) | – | 42 (13.2) | – | 0.475 |
| Hypertension | 470 (49.0) | 8 | 311 (48.6) | 8 | 159 (49.8) | – | 0.715 |
| Coronary artery disease | 218 (22.8) | 12 | 152 (23.8) | 9 | 66 (20.9) | 3 | 0.315 |
| Heart failure | 165 (17.1) | 1 | 97 (15.0) | – | 68 (21.4) | 1 | 0.013 |
| – NYHA I | 51 (30.9) | 33 (34) | 18 (26.5) | ||||
| – NYHA II | 72 (43.6) | 50 (51.5) | 22 (32.4) | ||||
| – NYHA III | 37 (22.4) | 12 (12.4) | 25 (36.8) | ||||
| – NYHA IV | 5 (3.0) | 2 (2.1) | 3 (4.4) | ||||
| Valvular heart disease | 382 (40.5) | 24 | 258 (41.3) | 24 | 124 (38.9) | – | 0.464 |
| Dilated CMP | 43 (4.5) | 11 | 17 (2.7) | 11 | 26 (8.2) | – | < 0.001 |
| Congenital heart disease | 16 (1.7) | 9 | 12 (1.9) | 9 | 4 (1.3) | – | 0.478 |
| Hypertrophic CMP | 33 (3.5) | 11 | 10 (1.6) | 10 | 23 (7.2) | 1 | < 0.001 |
| Pulmonary art. hypertension | 41 (4.3) | 13 | 3 (0.5) | 9 | 38 (12.1) | 4 | < 0.001 |
| OSAS | 67 (7.3) | 44 | 26 (4.1) | 16 | 41 (14.1) | 28 | < 0.001 |
| Peripheral vascular disease | 77 (8.0) | 5 | 47 (7.3) | 3 | 30 (9.5) | 2 | 0.242 |
| T2DM | 172 (17.9) | 4 | 100 (15.5) | 4 | 72 (22.6) | – | 0.007 |
| Lipid disorder | 416 (44.1) | 24 | 231 (36.8) | 21 | 185 (58.5) | 3 | < 0.001 |
| Hypothyroidism | 29 (3.2) | 8 | 7 (1.1) | 4 | 22 (7.5) | 4 | < 0.001 |
| Hyperthyroidism | 11 (1.2) | 8 | 6 (1.0) | 4 | 5 (1.6) | 4 | 0.548 |
| Prior thromboembolic event | 155 (16.0) | – | 99 (15.3) | – | 56 (17.6) | – | 0.364 |
| Prior haemorrhagic event | 52 (5.4) | 1 | 30 (4.6) | 1 | 22 (6.9) | – | 0.143 |
| LAA-occlusion | 11 (1.2) | 34 | 10 (1.6) | 3 | 1 (0.3) | 31 | 0.188 |
| CHA2DS2-VASc mean | 2.7 (±1.7) | 3 | 2.6 (±1.7) | – | 2.9 (±1.7) | 3 | 0.010 |
| CHA2DS2-VASc | 0.265 | ||||||
| – 0 | 95 (9.9) | 70 (10.8) | 25 (7.9) | ||||
| – 1 | 153 (15.9) | 109 (16.8) | 44 (13.9) | ||||
| – 2 | 199 (20.6) | 135 (20.8) | 64 (20.3) | ||||
| – 3 | 210 (21.8) | 139 (21.5) | 71 (22.5) | ||||
| – 4 | 177 (18.4) | 117 (18.1) | 60 (19.0) | ||||
| – 5 | 70 (7.3) | 45 (6.9) | 25 (7.9) | ||||
| – 6 | 41 (4.3) | 22 (3.4) | 19 (6.0) | ||||
| – 7 | 13 (1.3) | 9 (1.4) | 4 (1.3) | ||||
| – 8 | 6 (0.6) | 2 (0.3) | 4 (1.3) | ||||
| HAS-BLED mean | 1.5 (±1.0) | – | 1.4 (±1.0) | – | 1.6 (±1.0) | – | 0.003 |
| HAS-BLED | 0.011 | ||||||
| – 0 | 162 (16.8) | 119 (18.4) | 43 (13.5) | ||||
| – 1 | 357 (36.9) | 252 (38.8) | 105 (32.6) | ||||
| – 2 | 300 (31.0) | 187 (28.9) | 113 (35.4) | ||||
| – 3 | 123 (12.7) | 76 (11.7) | 47 (14.7) | ||||
| – 4 | 18 (1.9) | 8 (1.2) | 10 (3.1) | ||||
| – 5 | 7 (0.7) | 6 (0.9) | 1 (0.3) | ||||
| Alcohol use | 296 | 240 | 56 | 0.686 | |||
| – None | 250 (37.3) | 143 (35.0) | 107 (40.7) | ||||
| – < 1 U/day | 196 (29.2) | 124 (30.4) | 72 (27.4) | ||||
| – 1 U/day | 93 (13.9) | 59 (14.5) | 34 (12.9) | ||||
| – 2–3 U/day | 99 (14.8) | 62 (15.2) | 37 (14.1) | ||||
| – 4 or more | 33 (4.9) | 20 (4.9) | 13 (4.9) | ||||
| Smoking | 150 | 143 | 7 | 0.237 | |||
| – No smoker | 423 (51.8) | 250 (49.5) | 173 (55.4) | ||||
| – Currently | 103 (12.6) | 65 (12.9) | 38 (12.2) | ||||
| – Former | 291 (35.6) | 190 (37.6) | 101 (32.4) | ||||
AF atrial fibrillation, BE Belgium, BMI body mass index, CHA2DS2-VASc congestive heart failure, hypertension, age ≥ 75 years [doubled], diabetes mellitus, prior stroke [doubled], vascular disease, age 65–74, sex category, CMP cardiomyopathy, EHRA European Heart Rhythm Association, LA left atrial, LAA left atrial appendage, LVEF left ventricular ejection fraction, NL the Netherlands, NYHA New York Heart Association, OSAS obstructive sleep apnoea syndrome, T2DM type 2 diabetes mellitus