Abstract
AIMS: The risk of developing atrial fibrillation (AF) and its complications continues to increase, despite good progress in preventing AF-related strokes. METHODS AND RESULTS: This article summarizes the outcomes of the 7th Consensus Conference of the Atrial Fibrillation NETwork (AFNET) and the European Heart Rhythm Association (EHRA) held in Lisbon in March 2019. Sixty-five international AF specialists met to present new data and find consensus on pressing issues in AF prevention, management and future research to improve care for patients with AF and prevent AF-related complications. This article is the main outcome of an interactive, iterative discussion between breakout specialist groups and the meeting plenary. AF patients have dynamic risk profiles requiring repeated assessment and risk-based therapy stratification to optimize quality of care. Interrogation of deeply phenotyped datasets with outcomes will lead to a better understanding of the cardiac and systemic effects of AF, interacting with comorbidities and predisposing factors, enabling stratified therapy. New proposals include an algorithm for the acute management of patients with AF and heart failure, a call for a refined, data-driven assessment of stroke risk, suggestions for anticoagulation use in special populations, and a call for rhythm control therapy selection based on risk of AF recurrence. CONCLUSION: The remaining morbidity and mortality in patients with AF needs better characterization. Likely drivers of the remaining AF-related problems are AF burden, potentially treatable by rhythm control therapy, and concomitant conditions, potentially treatable by treating these conditions. Identifying the drivers of AF-related complications holds promise for stratified therapy.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 329–344 |
Number of pages | 16 |
Journal | EP Europace |
Volume | 23 |
Issue number | 3 |
Early online date | 29 Dec 2020 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Mar 2021 |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:Published on behalf of the European Society of Cardiology. All rights reserved. © The Author(s) 2020. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.
Funding Information:
The 7th AFNET/EHRA Consensus Conference was co-financed by AFNET and EHRA, and received additional financial support from the CATCH ME consortium (EU Horizon 2020 grant number 633196). Industry participants paid an attendance fee for the conference and provided an industry perspective during the discussions at the meeting but had no involvement in the writing process.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 Published on behalf of the European Society of Cardiology. All rights reserved.
Keywords
- AFNET
- Anticoagulation
- Atrial cardiomyopathy
- Atrial fibrillation
- Big data
- Bleeding
- Catheter ablation
- Cognitive function
- Consensus statement
- EHRA
- Heart failure
- Integrated care
- Lifestyle
- Outcomes
- Quality of care
- Rate control
- Research
- Research priorities
- Rhythm control
- Screening
- Stroke
- Technology
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine
- Physiology (medical)