TrAFFIC
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Tracking Atrial Fibrillation after Intensive Care Admission
IRAS ID
291237
Contact name
Peter Watkinson
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Oxford University
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 4 months, 5 days
Research summary
Atrial fibrillation is a heart problem that causes an irregular heartbeat. It can cause the heart to beat more rapidly and reduce the heart’s ability to pump blood around the body efficiently, causing heart failure. It also increases the risk of blood clots forming inside the heart.
These clots may then be pumped out of the heart, through the blood vessels, to other parts of the body. This can cause strokes if the clots spread to the brain.
AF is a common problem outside an Intensive Care Unit (ICU), where treatment is based on good, evidence-based guidelines designed to reduce the risk of problems like heart failure or strokes.
Around 10% of patients treated in ICU develop atrial fibrillation as a complication their underlying illness. Some patients will recover their normal heart rhythm before leaving the ICU, often with the help of some medical treatments.
It is not known whether these patients will get AF again after leaving the ICU, or when this is likely to happen. It is also unknown whether patients who avoid AF whilst on the ICU may still be at high risk of developing it after they leave.
Our study will identify patients on the ICU who have never had atrial fibrillation before.
We will monitor these patients while they are on the ICU to identify those who develop AF.
We will then monitor these patients on the ward after leaving the ICU to see which patients have AF at this point.
We will then repeat the heart monitoring once the patients leave hospital, again to identify whether they have atrial fibrillation.
Some studies suggest that AF during critical illness causes a long-term risk of recurrent AF and AF associated complications such as heart failure, stroke, and death.
To understand how we can minimise these risks in intensive care patients, we need to know which patients who develop atrial fibrillation whilst in an ICU go on to have recurrent atrial fibrillation in hospital and in the community.
These patients may benefit from interventions to reduce long term adverse events such as anticoagulation to reduce stroke risk.
REC name
London - South East Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
21/LO/0612
Date of REC Opinion
22 Oct 2021
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion