Demographic Characteristics and Patterns of Medication in Atrial Fibrillation Patients in South West Ontario: Insights from a Large Primary Care Database

Journal of Atrial Fibrillation
Robert J Petrella, Luc Sauriol

Abstract

Background: Information about current practice in primary care-based management of atrial fibrillation (AF) can help to improve care quality. Purpose: To assess the epidemiology of AF and current patterns of treatment in order to identify therapeutic trends and aspects of current practice that may allow for care-gap identification. Methods: We scrutinized the anonymized records of the South Western Ontario database (SWO) collected between July 2002 and October 2008 for information about the characteristics and management of AF patients. Results: From a population of ~168,000 patients we identified 4922 patients with a diagnosis of AF (2.9%). The recorded prevalence of AF increased with age, from <2% at age <60 years to 6% in the age range 71-75 years and 10% at age ≥81 years. AF patients were characterized by an unfavourable cardiovascular risk profile including widespread hypertension (54% of all cases), coronary artery disease (37%) and heart failure (21%), many cases of which were advanced (New York Heart Association class III or IV). Diabetes (22%) and dyslipidaemia (31%) were also widely prevalent. The most frequently prescribed anti-arrhythmic drugs (AADs) were sotolol (n=798), amiodarone (n=712) and propafenone (n=451). ...Continue Reading

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