Evidence map›Paper›PMID 17684738›Full record

ArticleEuropean journal of clinical pharmacology2007

Digoxin and mortality in atrial fibrillation: a prospective cohort study.

Pär Hallberg, Johan Lindbäck, Bertil Lindahl, Ulf Stenestrand, Håkan Melhus, RIKS-HIA group

Abstract read
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In one paragraph

Article in European journal of clinical pharmacology, 2007. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 34 papers, 5 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
34citing papers in PubMed, 5 pooled it
3.0field-weighted citation impact, top 9% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

34 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 113 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
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  6. Trial
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  8. Digitalis Therapy Is Associated With an Increased Risk of ICD Shock Delivery and Device Revision.Annals of noninvasive electrocardiology : the official journal of the International Society for Holter and Noninvasive Electrocardiology, Inc · 2025
    Article
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  13. Digoxin Impact on Heart Failure Patients with Atrial Fibrillation.Medical archives (Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina) · 2022
    Article
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  18. Increased mortality in patients with secondary diagnosis of atrial fibrillation: Report from Chinese AF registry.Annals of noninvasive electrocardiology : the official journal of the International Society for Holter and Noninvasive Electrocardiology, Inc · 2020
    Observational
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.

Pär HallbergDepartment of Medical Sciences, Clinical Pharmacology, Uppsala University Hospital, Uppsala University, 751 85, Uppsala, Sweden. par.hallberg@medsci.uu.se
Johan Lindbäck
Bertil Lindahl
Ulf Stenestrand
Håkan Melhus
RIKS-HIA group
Uppsala University Hospital · SELinköping University Hospital · SE

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectiveThe Atrial Fibrillation Follow-up Investigation of Rhythm Management (AFFIRM) study showed that rhythm-control treatment of patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) offered no survival advantage over a rate-control strategy. In a subgroup analysis of that study, it was found that digoxin increased the death rate [relative risk (RR) = 1.42), but it was suggested that this may have been attributable to prescription of digoxin for patients at greater risk of death, such as those with congestive heart failure (CHF). No study has investigated a priori the effect of digoxin on mortality in patients with AF. This study aimed to address this question.

methodsUsing data from the Registry of Information and Knowledge about Swedish Heart Intensive care Admissions (RIKS-HIA), we studied the 1-year mortality among patients admitted to coronary care units with AF, CHF, or AF+CHF with or without digoxin (n = 60,764) during 1995-2003. Adjustment for differences in background characteristics and other medications and treatments was made by propensity scoring.

resultsTwenty percent of patients with AF without CHF in this cohort were discharged with digoxin. This group had a higher mortality rate than the corresponding group not given digoxin [adjusted RR 1.42 (95% CI 1.29-1.56)], whereas no such difference was seen among patients with CHF with or without AF, although these patients had a nearly three-times higher mortality.

conclusionThe results suggest that long-term therapy with digoxin is an independent risk factor for death in patients with AF without CHF.

Indexed as

AgedAged, 80 and overAnti-Arrhythmia AgentsAtrial FibrillationCreatinineDigoxinFemaleHeart FailureHumansMaleMyocardial InfarctionProportional Hazards ModelsProspective StudiesRegistriesResearch DesignRisk AssessmentAnti-Arrhythmia AgentsCreatinineDigoxin

Identifiers

PMID17684738
OpenAlexW1967375232

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.