Blood samples were obtained at presentation and at 6 and 12 h after presentation. The highest NTproBNP value for each patient was used in the data analysis. According to a previous publication by our group,7 if the NTproBNP age-adjusted cut-off levels as determined in the International Collaborative of NT-proBNP Study as highly predictive of acute heart failure10 were used (>450 pg/ml in those aged <50 years, >900 pg/ml in those aged 50–75 years and >1800 pg/ml in those aged >75 years), 83.9% of the patients exceeded the respective cut-off at any time during the first 26 h after AF onset, and then the NTproBNP values declined rapidly. Patients with a NT-proBNP level exceeding the respective cut-off (in any of the three blood samples) were thus considered for the purposes of the present study to have AF of presumably recent onset and were allocated to group A, while the rest of the patients (with NTproBNP levels below the cut-off in all three samples) were allocated to group B. Another blood sample was taken 2–3 weeks after discharge to ascertain that the studied patients did not have raised background NTproBNP values.
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