Photo Credit: wildpixel

The following is a summary of “Minimum National Prevalence of Diagnosed Atrial Fibrillation Inferred From California Acute Care Facilities,” published in the October 2024 issue of Cardiology by Noubiap et al.  

In large populations, the prevalence of atrial fibrillation (AF) was updated over 2 decades ago. Previous estimates based on 1996-1997 data projected that 3.3 million U.S. adults would have AF by 2020.  

Researchers conducted a retrospective study determining the contemporary prevalence of diagnosed AF in the U.S.  

They merged California state-wide healthcare data (2005-2019) for adults (aged ≥20 years) receiving hospital-based care. The AF and comorbidities were identified using International Classification of Diseases codes, then standardized prevalence based on age, sex, race, and ethnicity to calculate national estimates.  

The results showed that among 29,250,310 patients (mean age 50.6 ± 19.8 years, 53.8% women, 50.1% White), 2,003,867 (6.8%) had diagnosed AF. The prevalence increased from 4.49% (2005-2009) to 6.82% (2015-2019). Patients with AF became more youthful, less likely to be female or White, and more likely to have hypertension and diabetes. Nationally, an estimated 10.55 million adults (95% CI: 10.48-10.62 million) had been diagnosed with AF, representing the adult population W4.48% (95% CI: 4.47%-4.49%).  

They concluded that the prevalence of diagnosed AF in the U.S. was higher than previously estimated, underscoring the need for better prevention and treatment strategies.  

Source: jacc.org/doi/abs/10.1016/j.jacc.2024.07.014