Risk-Based Disease Surveillance: The Promise of Early Atrial Fibrillation Identification

摘要

Atrial fibrillation (AF), the most common sustained clinical arrhythmia, represents a global epidemic, with an estimated 33.5 million affected individuals in 2010.sup1/sup Although AF is associated with substantial cardiovascular morbidity, including stroke, myocardial infarction, congestive heart failure, and mortality, it is often asymptomatic and intermittent, and therefore underdiagnosed. Patients may present initially with a thromboembolic event. In patients with no history of atrial arrhythmias presenting with cryptogenic stroke, an implantable loop recorder detected AF in 12.4%?of cases over 12?months.sup/sup