AHRQ Stats: Atrial Fibrillation Hospitalization Rate Rises for Americans Under 65

Hospital stays involving atrial fibrillation increased more than 50 percent for Americans age 18 to 64 from 1998 to 2014. Rates have stabilized in recent years for those age 65 and older. (Source: AHRQ, Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project Statistical Brief #236:Inpatient Stays Involving Atrial Fibrillation, 1998-2014.)

Inpatient Stays Involving Atrial Fibrillation, 1998-2014

Elisabeth Kato, M.D., M.R.P., Quyen Ngo-Metzger, M.D., M.P.H., Kathryn R. Fingar, Ph.D., M.P.H., Kimberly W. McDermott, Ph.D., and Anne Elixhauser, Ph.D.

Highlights

Inpatient stays with atrial fibrillation increased 34.7 percent from 1998 through 2014, but the increase in recent years reflects an aging population. The age-adjusted rate increased by 20.7 percent between 1998 and 2006 (1,170 vs. 1,411 per 100,000 adults) but was largely stable after 2006.

Although the rate of stays with atrial fibrillation stabilized for inpatients aged 65+ years after 2006, it has continued to climb for younger adults (up 21.9 percent for patients aged 45-64 years and up 10.1 percent for those aged 18-44 years.)

In 2014, the rate of inpatient stays with atrial fibrillation was highest among adults aged 85 years or older (16,309 per 100,000 adults) and patients who lived in areas with community-level income in the two lowest quartiles (1,662-1,681 per 100,000 adults) and rural areas (2,053 per 100,000 adults).

In 1998, one in five stays with ischemic stroke also included a diagnosis of atrial fibrillation. By 2014, that number had increased to one in four stays.

Among every adult age group, atrial fibrillation-associated stroke constituted a greater share of stroke cases in 2014 than in 1998. For example, in 2014, nearly half of stays (46.2 percent) with ischemic stroke among adults aged 85+ years involved atrial fibrillation, compared with 31.1 percent in 1998.