Tissue Doppler‐derived atrial dyssynchrony predicts new‐onset atrial fibrillation during hospitalization for ST‐elevation myocardial infarction

Background Atrial dyssynchrony, but not atrial enlargement/dysfunction, reflects acute atrial histopathological changes. It has been shown to be associated with new‐onset atrial fibrillation (NOAF) in various clinical conditions but was not studied in the acute phase of ST‐elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) which is the aim of the current study. Methods A total of 440 STEMI patients underwent primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) and were monitored for NOAF during hospitalization. Immediately after primary PCI, P‐wave dispersion was calculated and conventional/tissue Doppler echocardiography was done. Results During a median hospitalization period of 3 days, 80 (18.2%) patients developed NOAF. The group with NOAF showed significantly higher prevalence of hypertension (P = .049), higher P‐wave dispersion (P = .018), higher post–PCI‐corrected TIMI frame count (P