Arrhythmias and conduction disturbancesDetection of Previously Undiagnosed Atrial Fibrillation in Patients With Stroke Risk Factors and Usefulness of Continuous Monitoring in Primary Stroke Prevention
Section snippets
Methods
The present analysis was based on a subset of patients who were enrolled in the TRENDS study. The design8 and primary results9, 10 of the TRENDS study have been previously published. In brief, TRENDS was a prospective, observational study that enrolled patients who had recently received a pacemaker, implantable cardioverter defibrillator, or cardiac resynchronization therapy device for a class I-II indication and who also had ≥1 of the following stroke risk factors: congestive heart failure,
Results
We enrolled 2,813 patients from 116 centers in the TRENDS study. The patients with previous stroke or TIA (n = 353), an absence of CHADS2 stroke risk factors (n = 60), a documented history of AF (n = 480), warfarin and/or antiarrhythmic drug use (n = 380), or device data unavailable (n = 172) were excluded from the present analysis (Figure 1). The remaining 1,368 patients were the focus of the present analysis and were followed up for a mean of 1.1 ± 0.7 years. Of the 1,368 patients, 416 (30%,
Discussion
To our knowledge, this is the first study to quantify the incidence of NDAF using a variety of continuous monitoring devices in patients with known risk factors for stroke. The detection of AT/AF in these patients could influence decisions regarding anticoagulation and/or treatment of rhythm control. We found NDAF in a significant proportion of patients (31%) with multiple stroke risk factors during a mean follow-up of 1.1 years. Most patients with NDAF and elevated stroke risk factors also
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Cited by (0)
This study was funded by Medtronic, Inc. (Minneapolis, Minnesota).