: The incidence and prevalence of AF have increased in recent years , although great variability still exists in Asian countries .
Variability in annual IS risk in patients with AF was apparent between hospital‐ and community‐based studies .
BACKGROUND : Our previous review reported great variability in the incidence and prevalence of atrial fibrillation ( AF ) in non‐Western cohorts , especially from Asian countries ; in recent years , epidemiologic studies on AF have been increasingly reported from Asia .
METHODS : The goal of this up date d systematic review was to present the current knowledge base of AF epidemiology in Asian countries since our previous review .
Hyperuricemia and the risk of ischemic stroke in patients with atrial fibrillation--could it refine clinical risk stratification in AF?
BACKGROUND Although hyperuricemia has been reported to be a risk factor of stroke , the relationship between hyperuricemia and stroke in patients with atrial fibrillation ( AF ) remains uncertain . The goal of the present study was to investigate whether hyperuricemia could potentially refine clinical risk stratification in AF . METHODS This study used the " National Health Insurance Research Data base " in Taiwan . A total of 7601 AF patients who did not receive antiplatelet agents or oral anticoagulants were identified as the study population . Hyperuricemia was defined as having at least one episode of gout attack necessitating long-term treatment with uric acid-lowering agents . The association between hyperuricemia and ischemic stroke was analyzed . RESULTS During the follow up of 3.0±2.7 years , 1116 patients ( 14.7 % ) experienced ischemic stroke with an annual rate of around 4.9 % . Hyperuricemia significantly predicts stroke , with a hazard ratio ( HR ) of 1.280 after adjusting for CHA2DS2-VASc score and other comorbidities . Among the 376 patients with a CHA2DS2VASc score of 0 , hyperuricemia can further stratify them into 2 groups with different stroke rates ( 7.1 % versus 1.3 % , p=0.020 ) . The adjusted HR of hyperuricemia in predicting ischemic stroke diminished from 7.491 for patients with a CHA2DS2-VASc score of 0 to 1.659 for those with a score of 3 , and became insignificant for patients with a score ≥4 . CONCLUSIONS Hyperuricemia was a significant risk factor of stroke which could potentially refine the clinical risk stratification in AF . It deserves a prospect i ve trial to investigate whether it would change the current strategy for stroke preventions using oral anticoagulants
: The incidence and prevalence of AF have increased in recent years , although great variability still exists in Asian countries .
Variability in annual IS risk in patients with AF was apparent between hospital‐ and community‐based studies .
BACKGROUND : Our previous review reported great variability in the incidence and prevalence of atrial fibrillation ( AF ) in non‐Western cohorts , especially from Asian countries ; in recent years , epidemiologic studies on AF have been increasingly reported from Asia .
METHODS : The goal of this up date d systematic review was to present the current knowledge base of AF epidemiology in Asian countries since our previous review .