The epidemiology of atrial fibrillation

Abstract

In the United States, atrial fibrillation (AF) accounts for approximately 400,000 annual hospital discharges and affects an estimated 2.3 million adults at any given time, more than any other abnormality of heart rhythm (1,2). From an epidemiological standpoint, AF is predominantly a disease of elderly individuals with cardiovascular disease. As a consequence, two trends affecting industrialized countries are expected to raise the prevalence of AF in the coming decades: the growth of the elderly population and improved survival with cardiovascular conditions such as myocardial infarction and heart failure.