Abstract
Our aim was to assess the prevalence of unknown atrial fibrillation (AF) among adults during single-time point rhythm screening performed during meetings or social recreational activities organized by patient groups or volunteers. A total of 2814 subjects (median age 68 years) underwent AF screening by a handheld single-lead ECG device (MyDiagnostick). Overall, 56 subjects (2.0%) were diagnosed with AF, as a result of 12-lead ECG following a positive/suspected recording. Screening identified AF in 2.9% of the subjects ≥ 65 years. None of the 265 subjects aged below 50 years was found positive at AF screening. Risk stratification for unknown AF based on a CHA2DS2VASc > 0 in males and >1 in females (or CHA2DS2VA > 0) had a high sensitivity (98.2%) and a high negative predictive value (99.8%) for AF detection. A slightly lower sensitivity (96.4%) was achieved by using age ≥ 65 years as a risk stratifier. Conversely, raising the threshold at ≥75 years showed a low sensitivity. Within the subset of subjects aged ≥ 65 a CHA2DS2VASc > 1 in males and >2 in females, or a CHA2DS2VA > 1 had a high sensitivity (94.4%) and negative predictive value (99.3%), while age ≥ 75 was associated with a marked drop in sensitivity for AF detection.
Highlights
Atrial fibrillation (AF) is a very common arrhythmia, with a prevalence and incidence that increase with advancing age [1,2,3,4]
Our results indicate that the setting of meetings or social recreational activities may be of great interest for AF screening, since in our registry AF was found in a higher proportion of subjects as compared with the screening activities performed during the Belgian Heart week initiative, which found AF in 1.1% of subjects aged at least 20 years with no previous diagnosis of AF [27]
Among 138,000 subjects included in the meta-analysis, the pooled yield of screening resulted in a rate of AF detection of 1.44% at age ≥ 65 years, i.e., lower than what we found in our sample [13]
Summary
Atrial fibrillation (AF) is a very common arrhythmia, with a prevalence and incidence that increase with advancing age [1,2,3,4]. AF is associated with a 5-fold increase in the risk of thromboembolism and stroke and is detected in about 20% of strokes, both in form of symptomatic or asymptomatic arrhythmia [3,5,6,7,8,9,10,11]. The aim of the present study was to assess the prevalence of unknown AF among adults with no previous history of AF, during a single-time point AF screening, performed on the occasion of meetings or social recreational activities organized by groups of volunteers and associations for promoting healthy behaviors and wellness. We aimed to assess which clinical variables, among those usually included in clinical risk scores for AF management, could provide a higher chance of diagnosing a new AF, alone or in combination
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
