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Review
. 2016 Jan;18(1):37-50.
doi: 10.1093/europace/euv304. Epub 2015 Oct 18.

A roadmap to improve the quality of atrial fibrillation management: proceedings from the fifth Atrial Fibrillation Network/European Heart Rhythm Association consensus conference

Paulus Kirchhof  1 , Günter Breithardt  2 , Jeroen Bax  3 , Gerlinde Benninger  4 , Carina Blomstrom-Lundqvist  5 , Giuseppe Boriani  6 , Axel Brandes  7 , Helen Brown  8 , Martina Brueckmann  9 , Hugh Calkins  10 , Melanie Calvert  11 , Vincent Christoffels  12 , Harry Crijns  13 , Dobromir Dobrev  14 , Patrick Ellinor  15 , Larissa Fabritz  16 , Thomas Fetsch  17 , S Ben Freedman  18 , Andrea Gerth  19 , Andreas Goette  20 , Eduard Guasch  21 , Guido Hack  22 , Laurent Haegeli  23 , Stephane Hatem  24 , Karl Georg Haeusler  25 , Hein Heidbüchel  26 , Jutta Heinrich-Nols  27 , Francoise Hidden-Lucet  28 , Gerd Hindricks  29 , Steen Juul-Möller  30 , Stefan Kääb  31 , Lukas Kappenberger  32 , Stefanie Kespohl  33 , Dipak Kotecha  11 , Deirdre A Lane  11 , Angelika Leute  4 , Thorsten Lewalter  34 , Ralf Meyer  35 , Lluis Mont  21 , Felix Münzel  36 , Michael Nabauer  19 , Jens C Nielsen  37 , Michael Oeff  38 , Jonas Oldgren  39 , Ali Oto  40 , Jonathan P Piccini  41 , Art Pilmeyer  42 , Tatjana Potpara  43 , Ursula Ravens  44 , Holger Reinecke  45 , Thomas Rostock  46 , Joerg Rustige  30 , Irene Savelieva  47 , Renate Schnabel  48 , Ulrich Schotten  49 , Lars Schwichtenberg  33 , Moritz F Sinner  50 , Gerhard Steinbeck  51 , Monika Stoll  52 , Luigi Tavazzi  53 , Sakis Themistoclakis  54 , Hung Fat Tse  55 , Isabelle C Van Gelder  56 , Panagiotis E Vardas  57 , Timo Varpula  58 , Alphons Vincent  35 , David Werring  59 , Stephan Willems  48 , André Ziegler  60 , Gregory Y H Lip  11 , A John Camm  47
Affiliations
Review

A roadmap to improve the quality of atrial fibrillation management: proceedings from the fifth Atrial Fibrillation Network/European Heart Rhythm Association consensus conference

Paulus Kirchhof et al. Europace. 2016 Jan.

Abstract

At least 30 million people worldwide carry a diagnosis of atrial fibrillation (AF), and many more suffer from undiagnosed, subclinical, or 'silent' AF. Atrial fibrillation-related cardiovascular mortality and morbidity, including cardiovascular deaths, heart failure, stroke, and hospitalizations, remain unacceptably high, even when evidence-based therapies such as anticoagulation and rate control are used. Furthermore, it is still necessary to define how best to prevent AF, largely due to a lack of clinical measures that would allow identification of treatable causes of AF in any given patient. Hence, there are important unmet clinical and research needs in the evaluation and management of AF patients. The ensuing needs and opportunities for improving the quality of AF care were discussed during the fifth Atrial Fibrillation Network/European Heart Rhythm Association consensus conference in Nice, France, on 22 and 23 January 2015. Here, we report the outcome of this conference, with a focus on (i) learning from our 'neighbours' to improve AF care, (ii) patient-centred approaches to AF management, (iii) structured care of AF patients, (iv) improving the quality of AF treatment, and (v) personalization of AF management. This report ends with a list of priorities for research in AF patients.

Keywords: Antiarrhythmic drugs; Anticoagulation; Atrial fibrillation; Bleeding; Cardiovascular risk; Catheter ablation; Outcomes; Quality of care; Rate control; Research; Research priorities.

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