Atrial Fibrillation in Patients Undergoing Hip Fracture Surgery

Abstract

More than 90% of hip fracture patients are older than 70 years and in most studies mean age is close to 85 years. Increasing age is also associated with a higher prevalence of atrial fibrillation (AF). In present review we will try to answer 3 main questions about the effect of atrial fibrillation in patients with hip fracture: (a) Is there a relationship between AF and risk of hip fracture? (b) Which should be perioperative management of anticoagulant treatment? (c) has AF a long term prognostic value on survival after hip fracture surgery and is there a relationship between AF and the results of rehabilitative treatment? Moreover we evaluated the few reports about incidence and prognostic value of new onset postoperative atrial fibrillation.