Table 1.
Baseline sociodemographic, psychosocial, and clinical characteristics of participants
| Characteristics | Youngest-Old (65–74 years) (n=606) | Middle-Old (75–84 years) (n=429) | Oldest ≥ 85 years (n=149) | P value for trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
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| Socio-demographic | ||||
| Age (yrs, mean, (sd)) | 69.8 (2.9) | 78.9 (2.8) | 88.2 (2.9) | <0.001 |
| Women (%) | 44.6 | 49.4 | 59.7 | <0.01 |
| Married (%) | 62.2 | 57.4 | 33.8 | <0.001 |
| Race/Ethnicity (%) | ||||
| Non-Hispanic White | 84.5 | 86.6 | 92.6 | 0.01 |
| Non-White | 15.5 | 13.4 | 7.4 | |
| Education (%) | ||||
| ≤ high school | 31.8 | 43.8 | 40.0 | <0.01 |
| Some college | 19.7 | 19.9 | 17.9 | |
| College graduate | 48.5 | 36.4 | 42.1 | |
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| Clinical | ||||
| AF Type (%) | ||||
| Paroxysmal | 71.7 | 63.1 | 54.1 | <0.001 |
| Persistent | 14.6 | 15.6 | 12.6 | |
| Permanent | 13.7 | 21.3 | 33.3 | |
| AF Diagnosis (yrs, mean (sd)) | 5.1 (4.2) | 5.6 (4.5) | 6.0 (4.3) | 0.03 |
| Baseline heart rate (mean (sd)) | 71 (13.6) | 72 (13.2) | 72 (12.4) | 0.38 |
| Baseline Electrocardiogram (%) | ||||
| Sinus Rhythm | 43.3 | 34.1 | 23.0 | <0.001 |
| Atrial fibrillation | 25.5 | 31.0 | 43.2 | |
| Paced/Atrial flutter/Others | 31.2 | 34.9 | 33.8 | |
| Anticoagulation therapy (%) | ||||
| DOAC | 39.9 | 38.9 | 22.1 | <0.001 |
| Warfarin | 42.8 | 49.2 | 67.1 | |
| None | 17.3 | 11.9 | 10.7 | |
| AF Treatment (%) | ||||
| Rhythm control | 63.2 | 52.5 | 47.0 | <0.001 |
| Rate control | 36.8 | 47.5 | 53.0 | |
| Prior ablation therapy (%) | 35.1 | 27.7 | 21.5 | <0.001 |
| Medical History (%) | ||||
| Hypertension | 89.9 | 89.3 | 94.6 | 0.23 |
| Dyslipidemia | 79.9 | 81.3 | 81.2 | 0.82 |
| Heart Failure | 30.5 | 42.0 | 51.7 | <0.001 |
| Diabetes | 35.3 | 27.3 | 26.2 | 0.01 |
| Arthritis | 45.9 | 52.0 | 64.4 | <0.001 |
| Anemia | 28.6 | 33.1 | 34.9 | 0.06 |
| Cancer | 25.4 | 35.4 | 33.6 | <0.01 |
| Common prescribed medications (%) | ||||
| ACE-inhibitors | 33.4 | 34.8 | 34.3 | 25.5 |
| Beta-blockers | 80.5 | 77.8 | 81.6 | 88.4 |
| Calcium channel blockers | 30.8 | 32.3 | 29.6 | 28.2 |
| Diuretics | 51.6 | 46.4 | 55.9 | 61.1 |
| Statins | 68.4 | 68.2 | 68.8 | 67.1 |
| Polypharmacy (≥5 medications) (%) | 30.5 | 27.5 | 21.5 | 0.03 |
| Risk Scores (Mean, SD)) | ||||
| Charlson Comorbidity Index | 5.1 (2.3) | 6.7 (2.4) | 7.7 (2.7) | <0.001 |
| CHA2DS2-VASc | 3.7 (1.4) | 5.1 (1.6) | 5.3 (1.4) | <0.001 |
| HASBLED | 3.1 (1.1) | 3.3 (1.1) | 3.4 (1.0) | 0.01 |
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| Psychosocial and Geriatric | ||||
| Low social support (%) | 27.1 | 26.6 | 20.1 | 0.15 |
| Visual Impairment (%) | 36.0 | 30.3 | 38.3 | 0.68 |
| Hearing Impairment (%) | 27.1 | 41.0 | 60.4 | <0.001 |
| Cognitive impairment (%) | 25.4 | 41.6 | 57.0 | <0.001 |
| Frailty (%) | ||||
| Not Frail | 41.1 | 28.2 | 16.1 | <0.001 |
| Pre-Frail | 48.0 | 55.9 | 67.1 | |
| Frail | 10.9 | 15.9 | 16.8 | |
| Depressive Symptoms† (%) | ||||
| None | 71.0 | 73.9 | 67.8 | 0.99 |
| Mild/Moderate | 25.7 | 24.2 | 30.9 | |
| Moderately Severe/Severe | 3.3 | 1.9 | 1.3 | |
| Anxiety Symptoms‡ (%) | ||||
| None | 74.9 | 78.3 | 79.9 | 0.13 |
| Mild/Moderate | 22.8 | 20.8 | 16.8 | |
| Severe | 2.3 | 0.9 | 3.3 | |
| Self-Rated Health (%) | ||||
| Fair/Poor | 16.6 | 16.7 | 15.6 | 0.85 |
| Good/Excellent | 83.4 | 83.3 | 84.4 | |
| Independent functioning (Mean, SD) | 6.8 (0.8) | 6.7 (1.1) | 6.3 (1.5) | <0.001 |
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| Health behaviors | ||||
| Any Alcohol use (%) | 56.8 | 52.1 | 55.2 | 0.35 |
| Smoking status (%) | ||||
| Never smoker | 45.0 | 46.1 | 54.1 | 0.04 |
| Former smoker | 50.7 | 51.5 | 44.5 | |
| Current Smoker | 4.3 | 2.4 | 1.4 | |
Abbreviations: CHA2DS2-VASc: Stroke risk assessment (Congestive heart failure, Hypertension, Age ( ≥ 65 = 1 point, ≥ 75 = 2 points), Diabetes, and prior Stroke/TIA (2 points), Vascular disease (peripheral arterial disease, previous MI, aortic atheroma) and female gender); HASBLED: Determines 1 year risk of major bleeding (Hypertension, Abnormal renal and liver function, prior Stroke, prior Bleeding, Labile INR, Elderly, Drugs or alcohol that increase risk of bleeding); DOAC: Direct Oral Anticoagulant
PHQ-9 Patient Health Questionnaire 9 item score (5–9 mild; 10–14 moderate; 15–19 moderately severe; and ≥20 severe depression)
GAD-7 General Anxiety Disorder 7 item score (5–9 mild; 10–14 moderate; ≥15 severe anxiety); Independent functioning assessed by Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (score ranging from 0–7)