Indications and Recommendations For Anticoagulation in Atrial Fibrillation

Abstract

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the commonest arrhythmia seen and managed by the physicians and cardiologists. It has numrous causes as given in Table - I. When a cause is not identified the condition is referred to as lone AF. Approximately 10% of patients with chronic AF have this type. The incidence of AF increases with age and the presence of structural heart disease. AF is associated with an increased morbidity and mortality and is an indenpendent risk factor for stroke. After adjustment for other known factors a recent report showed that AF was assocaited with an increased moratlity rate that was higher by a factor of 1.5 to 1.9than the mortalty rate expected in the general population. much of the morbidity and some of the mortality associated with AF is due to stroke. Although the risk of stroke is not solely due to AF, AF substantially increases the risk of stroke in the presence of other cardiovascular diseases.