• Ufuk Aydın, Mehmet Yılmaz, Çağrı Düzyol, Yusuf Ata, Tamer Türk, Ahmet Lütfullah Orhan, and Cevdet Uğur Koçoğulları.
• Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Bursa Yüksek İhtisas Education and Research Hospital; Bursa-Turkey. nesruf@isnet.net.tr.
• Anatol J Cardiol. 2015 Jun 1; 15 (6): 491-5.

ObjectiveRecent studies have demonstrated that preoperative statin therapy reduces the incidence of postoperative atrial fibrillation (AF). The objective of this study was to assess the efficacy of statin therapy started in the early postoperative period for the prevention from new-onset AF after isolated coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG).MethodsThis prospective and randomized study consisted of 60 consecutive patients who underwent elective isolated CABG. Patients were divided into two groups to examine the influence of statins: those with postoperative statin therapy (statin group, n=30) and those without it (non-statin group, n=30). Patient data were collected and analyzed prospectively. In the statin group, each extubated patient was given 40 mg of atorvastatin per day, starting from an average of 6 hours after the operation.ResultsThe overall incidence of postoperative AF was 30%. Postoperative AF occurred in 5 patients (16.7%) in the statin group. This was significantly lower compared with 13 patients (43.3%) in the non-statin group (p=0.049). According to the multivariate analysis, postoperative atorvastatin reduced the risk of postoperative AF by 49% [odds ratio (OR) 0.512, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.005 to 0.517, p=0.012]. Also, age was an independent predictor of postoperative AF (OR 1.299, 95% CI 1.115 to 1.514, p=0.001).ConclusionPostoperative statin therapy seems to reduce new-onset AF after isolated CABG in our study.

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