BMJ  2007;335:355-356 (25 August), doi:10.1136/bmj.39266.497396.BE

Editorials

Diagnosing atrial fibrillation in general practice

The combination of a clinical history, clinical signs, and an ECG will pick up most cases

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

In this week's BMJ, Mant and colleagues and Fitzmaurice and colleagues present the results of the SAFE (screening for atrial fibrillation in the elderly) study. They assess how accurately general practitioners, practice nurses, and an interpretive computer program can diagnose atrial fibrillation on an electrocardiogram (ECG), and they report on the effectiveness of screening patients aged 65 and over for atrial fibrillation in British general practice.^{1 2} The prevalence of atrial fibrillation rises with age from 1.5% in people in their 60s to more than 10% in those over 90. People with atrial fibrillation have double the mortality and a four to fivefold higher risk of stroke than those without fibrillation. About a quarter of all strokes in elderly people are caused by atrial fibrillation. Strokes caused by atrial fibrillation are often severe and lead to high mortality and a low quality of life.³

Even if normal rhythm cannot be . . . [Full text of this article]

Department of General Practice, Division Clinical Methods and Public Health, Academic Medical Centre, Amsterdam, 1100 DD Netherlands

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Rapid Responses:

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