Patients over the age of 65 are the fastest growing trauma patient population. Many of these patients have comorbidities such as hypertension and heart disease, which may contribute to increased morbidity and mortality in this setting. In older patients, atrial fibrillation is a particularly important risk following trauma, one that complicates clinical management. Stress, high cortisol levels, valvular heart disease, and other factors may be to blame.

Marco and colleagues used a case-control study—“Predictors of new-onset atrial fibrillation in geriatric trauma patients”—to evaluate the associations between new-onset atrial fibrillation and the clinical characteristics of trauma patients admitted to the hospital over the age of 65.

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