Identification of patients with atrial fibrillation in general practice

BMJ 1999;318:264 ( 23 January )

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Identification of patients with atrial fibrillation in general practice

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EDITOR $---$ Roderick and Cox's work shows that it is feasible to identify patients with atrial fibrillation in clinical practice,which confirms the suggestions from our data. They say, however,that only a small proportion of those detected would be eligiblefor and would accept warfarin treatment. Their eligibility estimatesare considerably lower than our own,¹ and we suspect that thisdifference partly reflects the effect of using different eligibilitycriteria, which we have noted previously.² Patients' understandingof the risks and benefits of treatment and their view of the possibleoutcomes are important determinants of the decision to treat andmay also explain some of the differences between our estimates.Further work is required into methods for eliciting patients'preferences and incorporating them into the choice of treatmentand into clear guidelines on the selection of patients fortreatment.

We disagree with Fitzmaurice's assertion that the treatment . . . [Full text of this article]

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