Incidence of chronic atrial fibrillation in general practice and its treatment pattern
Abstract
The object of this article was to estimate the incidence rate of chronic atrial fibrillation (AF) in a general practice setting, to identify factors predisposing to its occurrence, and to describe treatment patterns in the year following the diagnosis. The method used was a population-based cohort study using the General Practice Research Database (GPRD) in the UK. We identified patients aged 40-89 years with a first ever recorded diagnosis of AF. The diagnosis was validated through a questionnaire sent to the general practitioners. A nested case-control analysis was performed to assess risk factors for AF using 1,035 confirmed incident cases of chronic AF and a random sample of 5,000 controls from the original source population. The incidence rate of chronic AF was 1.7 per 1,000 person-years, and increased markedly with age. The age adjusted rate ratio among males was 1.4 (95% CI 1.2-1.6). The major risk factors were age, high BMI, excessive alcohol consumption, and prior cardiovascular comorbidity, in particular, valvular heart disease and heart failure. Digoxin was used in close to 70% of the patients, and close to 15% did not receive any antiarrhythmic treatment. Close to 40% did not receive either warfarin or aspirin in th...Continue Reading
References
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Alcohol consumption as a risk factor for atrial fibrillation: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
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