Stroke risk stratification fibrillation

Gage BF, van Walraven C, Pearce LA et al. (2004). Selecting patients with atrial fibrillation for anticoagulation. Stroke risk stratification in patients taking aspirin. Circulation 110 2287-2292 Giles MF, Rothwell PM (2007). Risk of stroke early after transient ischaemic attack a systematic review and meta-analysis. Lancet Neurology 6 1063-1072... 

Persistent and paroxysmal atrial fibrillation (AF) are potent risk factors for first and recurrent stroke. It has been estimated that AF affects more than 2,000,000 Americans and becomes more frequent with age, being the most frequent cardiac arrhythmia in the elderly [6,38], The prevalence of AF peaks at 8.8% among people over the age of 80 years, hi the Framingham Stroke Study, 14% of strokes occurred because of AF. The absolute risk of stroke in patients with AF varies 20-fold, according to age and the presence of vascular risk factors [6,7]. Several stroke risk stratification schemes have been developed and validated. Overall, patients with prior stroke or transient ischanic attack carry the highest stroke risk [6,39]. 

CKS recommends that antithrombotic treatment is indicated in all people with atrial fibrillation (AF). The choice of treatment should be determined by the person s risk of stroke. CKS uses the risk stratification recommended by NICE see Table A17.4. 

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