Abstract:Objective To collect general data, investigate the risk factors, the current status of primary prevention and prognosis of stroke of valvular heart disease (VHD) patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) (or valvular atrial fibrillation), and provide theory gist for the primary prevention of stroke. Methods The complete clinical data of 233 cases of hospitalized patients with valvular atrial fibrillation and without stroke in Sichuan Provincial People's Hospital from December 2013 to April 2015 were studied. According to the cause of disease, patients with valvular atrial fibrillation were divided into rheumatic VHD group (n = 126), degenerative VHD group (n = 82) and other VHD group (n = 25). The effect of intervention methods on stroke were analyzed based on 2 years’ followup survey where related risk factors, clinical characteristics and primary prevention were observed. Results The age distribution, gender and type of AF were significantly different among the three groups (P < 0.05). Persistent AF is the main type of AF, 89.3% of whom had left atrial growth. Anticoagulant therapy was the major treatment in the rheumatic VHD group, and 74.8% of the patients used warfarin; antiplatelet (57.3%) was widely used in the degenerative VHD group. A total of 173 cases (74.3%) were at high risk according to CHA2DS2-VASc score (male, ≥ 2 points; female ≥ 3 points). Anticoagulant was used in 99% of the patients at high risk in the rheumatic VHD group; antiplatelet was used in 59.0% of the patients at high risk in the degenerative VHD group. According to 2 years’ followed-up, the incidence of cerebral infarction was 11.1% in the patients who did not insist on the primary prevention of stroke while 0.5% of the patients insisted on stroke primary prevention. Conclusions The proportion of patients of degenerative VHD with AF is significantly increased compared with previous data. Most of the VHD patients complicated with AF are at higher risk of stroke. Warfarin is still the main method of the primary prevention of stroke in VHD patients with AF. Anticoagulation and surgery are efficient for stroke prevention in patients with AF within 2 years.