Postoperative atrial fibrillation (POAF) is a common complication after coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) that prolongs hospitalization and increases the expenses. Perioperative risk factors may predict POAF. From March 2015 to January 2023, 6,229 patients who underwent isolated CABG and were in sinus rhythm before CABG were included in this retrospective study. The preoperative and postoperative variants of patients were collected and analyzed by univariate analyses between the patients with and without POAF. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was then used to study the independent risk factors for POAF. The incidence of POAF in this group of patients was 30.94%. Univariate analyses demonstrated that age (p < 0.001), hypertension (p < 0.001), smoking (p < 0.05), cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) time (p < 0.01), and ejection fraction (EF, p < 0.01) were the risk factors for POAF. Multivariate logistic regression analysis determined the independent risk factors associated with POAF were old age (odds ratio [OR] = 1.062, p = 0.000) and low EF (OR = 0.980; p = 0.008). In the current era, after isolated CABG surgery, there is still a quite high incidence of POAF (30.94% in this group of CABG patients). The main risk factors correlating to POAF include age, hypertension, smoking, CPB time, and EF. Among these factors, multivariate analysis identified old age and low EF as the independent risk factors associated with POAF. Particular care should be taken in the perioperative period for these patients in prevention of POAF.

Professor Guo-Wei HE, MD, PhD, DSc, is Distinguished Professor of Tianjin University, China and Academician (Foreign Correspondence Member) at The National Academy of Medicine, France (2019-). Professor He is Vice President & Senior Cardiac Surgeon at TEDA International Cardiovascular Hospital, Tianjin University and Director of Institute for Cardiovasc Diseases, Tianjin University & Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences. He also holds Clinical Professor of Surgery at Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR, USA (2003-). In addition, Professor He is Director, Branch Center for National Clinical Research Center for Cardiovascular Disease and Director of Tianjin Key Laboratory for Molecular Regulation and Translational Medicine of Cardiovascular Diseases He obtained Doctor of Science (2003) and Ph. D.(1989) from Monash University, Melbourne, Australia.

He was Chair Professor of Cardiothoracic Surgery, University of Hong Kong, 1995-2000 and Research Chair Professor, Chinese University of Hong Kong (2000-2009). Professor He was Director of Cardiovasc Res Lab, St, Vincent Hospital, Portland, OR, U.S.A. (1994-2012). Professor He is an active cardiac surgeon and he performed more than 8,000 open heart operations. Notably, he is the first surgeon performing radial artery plus internal mammary artery in CABG at University of Hong Kong in Asia (1995) and is well known for “He Classification” and “He solutions” for CABG grafts. Apart from clinical practice, he is an active research and obtained more than 80 research grants and awards such as First Class Award, Tianjin Municipal Natural Science Award (2012), First Class Award, Prize of Science & Technology, The China Medicine Education Association (2021), exec. He published 430 articles/reports in SCI-index international journals. He ranks in World's Top 2% Scientists (2019-2024) with Google scholar citation > 10,000 and H-index of top 1%. Professor He ranks world’s Top 1% in Medicine, Chemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology. Highly-cited Chinese scholar (2024). The top 0.05% of all scholars worldwide (ScholarGPS).