INTRODUCCIÓN: REVISIÓN CRITICA DEL PROBLEMA

CAPÍTULO IV
Comparisons of characteristics between individual with or without AF were
performed with Student's t or Mann–Whitney U test for continuous variables and
Pearson's χ2 for categorical variables. Continuous data from more than two
groups were compared with one-way ANOVA. To study the correlation between
quantitative variables, Pearson's test was used. Variables statistically associated
to AF in the univariate analysis and those with clinical relevance were entered into
a forward stepwise logistic-regression model to identify variables independently
associated with AF. A p value < 0.05 was considered as statistically significant.
Results
a) Baseline patient characteristics
The basal characteristics of patients are detailed in Table 1, on the basis of the
presence or absence of AF. In AF group, subjects had a statistically significant
higher prevalence of previous mitral surgery, LA distension and renal failure. AF
patients showed a statistical trend to be older, and more prevalence of
hypertension and preserved LVEF. Likewise, patients with AF had statistically
significant higher plasma levels of fructosamine, HbA1c, fluorescent AGEs and
sRAGE. With regard to pharmacotherapy, AF group received less angiotensin
converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEI) and angiotensin receptor blockers (ARB)
(p=0.025) and showed a trend to be less treated with statins (p=0.185).
b) DM, AGEs and AF
Table 2 shows the characteristics of diabetic and non-diabetic patients with and
without AF. Among the 59 patients without DM, 24 (40.7%) had AF. This group of
patients, compared with those in SR, was older and presented higher proportion of
hypertension, renal failure and preserved LVEF. Plasma levels of fluorescent
AGEs and sRAGE were higher in non-diabetic AF group versus non-diabetic SR
group, but we did not observe any statistically significant differences between
these groups with respect to HbA1c or fructosamine values. Within the group of
diabetic patients (n=38), 13 presented AF (34.2%). These patients showed higher
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