New-onset postoperative atrial fibrillation (POAF) occurred in 31.8% of patients after cardiac surgery in the multinational VISION Cardiac Surgery cohort.
Post-discharge management varied widely: most patients with POAF were discharged on antiplatelet therapy alone, fewer received anticoagulation, and nearly half received amiodarone.
POAF was strongly associated with later clinical atrial fibrillation and with higher all-cause mortality over 1 year, while the association with stroke or vascular death was numerically higher but did not reach conventional statistical significance after adjustment.
