Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common sustained arrhythmia, and its prevalence
increases with age. In those aged 65 or older, screening studies reveal the prevalence
(in AF at time of screening) to be 4.4%, with 1.4% of those having previously undiagnosed
AF [
[1]
]. In our own study of ambulant patients, 6.7% of those ≥65 years were in AF and in 10% of these, AF was incidentally detected, most without symptoms
of palpitations or the elevation of resting heart rate [
[2]
].Keywords
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References
- Community screening programs to identify unknown atrial fibrillation: a systematic review (abstr).Eur Heart J. 2012; 33: 61
- Screening for atrial fibrillation above age 65 detects an asymptomatic subset at high risk of stroke.Int J Cardiol. Apr 15 2013; 164: 371-372
- Subclinical atrial fibrillation and the risk of stroke.N Engl J Med. 2012; 366: 120-129
- A randomised controlled trial and cost-effectiveness study of systematic screening (targeted and total population screening) versus routine practice for the detection of atrial fibrillation in people aged 65 and over. The SAFE study.Health Technol Assess. 2005; 9 ([iii–iv, ix–x]): 1-74
- Screening Education And Recognition in Community pHarmacies of Atrial Fibrillation to prevent stroke in an ambulant population aged ≥65 years (SEARCH-AF stroke prevention study): a cross-sectional study protocol.BMJ Open. 2012; 2: e001355https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2012-001355
Article info
Publication history
Published online: February 27, 2013
Accepted:
January 13,
2013
Received:
December 18,
2012
Identification
Copyright
© 2013 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
