{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,14]],"date-time":"2026-07-14T12:16:06Z","timestamp":1784031366017,"version":"3.55.0"},"reference-count":47,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"2","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2023,1,6]],"date-time":"2023-01-06T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1672963200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Healthcare"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Background: Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most frequent of all cardiac arrhythmias, with an increasing prevalence in the last 20 years. Cardio-embolic brain complications (CEBC) related to AF often occur or recur, even following appropriate treatment. Method: We conducted a retrospective study and analyzed the presence of stroke, dementia, and Parkinson\u2019s disease (PD) in both paroxysmal and permanent AF patients. The records of 1111 consecutive admitted patients with primary diagnosis of AF at the Municipal Emergency University Hospital, Timisoara, between 2015 and 2016 were examined. Statistical analysis was performed on the patients included in the study based on the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Results: A significant statistical difference was noted among the permanent AF group for stroke (48.75% vs. 26.74%, p &lt; 0.001) and dementia (10.25% vs. 3.86%, p &lt; 0.001) compared to paroxysmal AF patients. Permanent AF patients presented a higher risk of developing stroke, dementia, and PD compared to patients with paroxysmal AF. Meanwhile, male gender and an increase in age showed an increase in the odds of having cardio-embolic brain complications in patients with paroxysmal AF. Conclusion: Based on the results obtained, it can be concluded that the risk of cardio-cerebral embolic complications is greater in permanent AF patients compared to paroxysmal AF cases. Ischemic stroke and dementia are more frequent in the permanent AF group, but analyzing the data regarding the age of onset paroxysmal AF is critical due to the fact that it involves a younger population. Prompt diagnosis and treatment can help significantly in saving stroke patients.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/healthcare11020175","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2023,1,6]],"date-time":"2023-01-06T03:31:28Z","timestamp":1672975888000},"page":"175","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":13,"title":["Prevalence of Cardio-Embolic Brain Complications in Permanent and Paroxysmal Atrial Fibrillation Patients"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"11","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-8619-0479","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ciprian Ilie","family":"Rosca","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Centre for Advanced Research in Cardiovascular Pathology and Hemostasis, Victor Babes University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 300041 Timisoara, Romania"},{"name":"Department of Internal Medicine I\u2014Medical Semiotics I, Victor Babes University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 300041 Timisoara, Romania"},{"name":"Department of Internal Medicine, Municipal Emergency University Hospital, 300079 Timisoara, Romania"},{"name":"Civil Medical Society Dr Rosca, 307405 Teremia Mare, Romania"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0865-0054","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Abhinav","family":"Sharma","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Civil Medical Society Dr Rosca, 307405 Teremia Mare, Romania"},{"name":"Department of Cardiology, Discipline of Internal Medicine, Ambulatory Care, Prevention and CV Rehabilitation, Victor Babes University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 300020 Timisoara, Romania"},{"name":"Department of Occupational Medicine, Vasile Goldis University of Arad Faculty of Medicine, 473223 Arad, Romania"},{"name":"Department of Occupational Medicine, Municipal Emergency University Hospital, 310025 Arad, Romania"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Daniel-Dumitru","family":"Nisulescu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases, 300310 Timisoara, Romania"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Gabriela","family":"Otiman","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Cardiology, Discipline of Internal Medicine, Ambulatory Care, Prevention and CV Rehabilitation, Victor Babes University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 300020 Timisoara, Romania"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Daniel-Marius","family":"Duda-Seiman","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Cardiology, Discipline of Internal Medicine, Ambulatory Care, Prevention and CV Rehabilitation, Victor Babes University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 300020 Timisoara, Romania"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Stelian Ioan","family":"Morariu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Occupational Medicine, Vasile Goldis University of Arad Faculty of Medicine, 473223 Arad, Romania"},{"name":"Department of Occupational Medicine, Municipal Emergency University Hospital, 310025 Arad, Romania"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Daniel Florin","family":"Lighezan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Centre for Advanced Research in Cardiovascular Pathology and Hemostasis, Victor Babes University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 300041 Timisoara, Romania"},{"name":"Department of Internal Medicine I\u2014Medical Semiotics I, Victor Babes University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 300041 Timisoara, Romania"},{"name":"Department of Internal Medicine, Municipal Emergency University Hospital, 300079 Timisoara, Romania"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-2824-7182","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Nilima Rajpal","family":"Kundnani","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Functional Sciences, Physiology, Centre of Imuno-Physiology and Biotechnologies (CIFBIOTEH), Victor Babes University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 300041 Timisoara, Romania"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2023,1,6]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"373","DOI":"10.1093\/eurheartj\/ehaa612","article-title":"2020 ESC Guidelines for the diagnosis and management of atrial fibrillation developed in collaboration with the European Association for Cardio-Thoracic Surgery (EACTS): The Task Force for the diagnosis and management of atrial fibrillation of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) Developed with the special contribution of the European Heart Rhythm Association (EHRA) of the ESC","volume":"42","author":"Hindricks","year":"2020","journal-title":"Eur. 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