Stroke as the Initial Manifestation of Atrial Fibrillation: The Framingham Heart Study

Affiliations

¹ From the Cardiovascular Research Center (S.A.L., L.-C.W., P.T.E.) and Cardiac Arrhythmia Service (S.A.L., P.T.E.), Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston; Boston University and National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute's Framingham Heart Study, Framingham, MA (X.Y., J.R.R., P.A.W., S.S., E.J.B.); Cardiology Division, Department of Medicine, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester (D.D.M.); Boston University School of Medicine, MA (H.J.A., J.R.R., P.A.W., S.S., E.J.B.); Department of Neurology, Boston Medical Centre, MA (H.J.A., J.R.R., C.S.K., S.S.); Pulmonary Center and the Section of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Department of Medicine (A.J.W.) and Preventive Medicine Section, Department of Medicine (E.J.B.), Boston University School of Medicine, MA; and Section of Cardiovascular Medicine and Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, Boston University, MA (E.J.B.). slubitz@mgh.harvard.edu.
² From the Cardiovascular Research Center (S.A.L., L.-C.W., P.T.E.) and Cardiac Arrhythmia Service (S.A.L., P.T.E.), Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston; Boston University and National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute's Framingham Heart Study, Framingham, MA (X.Y., J.R.R., P.A.W., S.S., E.J.B.); Cardiology Division, Department of Medicine, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester (D.D.M.); Boston University School of Medicine, MA (H.J.A., J.R.R., P.A.W., S.S., E.J.B.); Department of Neurology, Boston Medical Centre, MA (H.J.A., J.R.R., C.S.K., S.S.); Pulmonary Center and the Section of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Department of Medicine (A.J.W.) and Preventive Medicine Section, Department of Medicine (E.J.B.), Boston University School of Medicine, MA; and Section of Cardiovascular Medicine and Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, Boston University, MA (E.J.B.).

PMID: 28082669
PMCID: PMC5262530
DOI: 10.1161/STROKEAHA.116.015071

Stroke as the Initial Manifestation of Atrial Fibrillation: The Framingham Heart Study

Steven A Lubitz et al. Stroke. 2017 Feb.

. 2017 Feb;48(2):490-492.

doi: 10.1161/STROKEAHA.116.015071. Epub 2017 Jan 12.

Affiliations

¹ From the Cardiovascular Research Center (S.A.L., L.-C.W., P.T.E.) and Cardiac Arrhythmia Service (S.A.L., P.T.E.), Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston; Boston University and National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute's Framingham Heart Study, Framingham, MA (X.Y., J.R.R., P.A.W., S.S., E.J.B.); Cardiology Division, Department of Medicine, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester (D.D.M.); Boston University School of Medicine, MA (H.J.A., J.R.R., P.A.W., S.S., E.J.B.); Department of Neurology, Boston Medical Centre, MA (H.J.A., J.R.R., C.S.K., S.S.); Pulmonary Center and the Section of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Department of Medicine (A.J.W.) and Preventive Medicine Section, Department of Medicine (E.J.B.), Boston University School of Medicine, MA; and Section of Cardiovascular Medicine and Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, Boston University, MA (E.J.B.). slubitz@mgh.harvard.edu.
² From the Cardiovascular Research Center (S.A.L., L.-C.W., P.T.E.) and Cardiac Arrhythmia Service (S.A.L., P.T.E.), Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston; Boston University and National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute's Framingham Heart Study, Framingham, MA (X.Y., J.R.R., P.A.W., S.S., E.J.B.); Cardiology Division, Department of Medicine, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester (D.D.M.); Boston University School of Medicine, MA (H.J.A., J.R.R., P.A.W., S.S., E.J.B.); Department of Neurology, Boston Medical Centre, MA (H.J.A., J.R.R., C.S.K., S.S.); Pulmonary Center and the Section of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Department of Medicine (A.J.W.) and Preventive Medicine Section, Department of Medicine (E.J.B.), Boston University School of Medicine, MA; and Section of Cardiovascular Medicine and Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, Boston University, MA (E.J.B.).

PMID: 28082669
PMCID: PMC5262530
DOI: 10.1161/STROKEAHA.116.015071

Abstract

Background and purpose: To prevent strokes that may occur as the first manifestation of atrial fibrillation (AF), screening programs have been proposed to identify patients with undiagnosed AF who may be eligible for treatment with anticoagulation. However, the frequency with which patients with AF present with stroke as the initial manifestation of the arrhythmia is unknown.

Methods: We estimated the frequency with which AF may present as a stroke in 1809 community-based Framingham Heart Study participants with first-detected AF and without previous strokes, by tabulating the frequencies of strokes occurring on the same day, within 30 days before, 90 days before, and 365 days before first-detected AF. Using previously reported AF incidence rates, we estimated the incidence of strokes that may represent the initial manifestation of AF.

Results: We observed 87 strokes that occurred ≤1 year before AF detection, corresponding to 1.7% on the same day, 3.4% within 30 days before, 3.7% within 90 days before, and 4.8% ≤1 year before AF detection. We estimated that strokes may present as the initial manifestation of AF at a rate of 2 to 5 per 10 000 person-years, in both men and women.

Conclusions: We observed that stroke is an uncommon but measureable presenting feature of AF. Our data imply that emphasizing cost-effectiveness of population-wide AF-screening efforts will be important given the relative infrequency with which stroke represents the initial manifestation of AF.

Keywords: atrial fibrillation; atrial flutter; incidence; mass screening; stroke.

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Comment in

Letter by Sposato et al Regarding Article, "Stroke as the Initial Manifestation of Atrial Fibrillation: The Framingham Heart Study".
Sposato LA, Fridman S, Saposnik G. Sposato LA, et al. Stroke. 2017 Jun;48(6):e142. doi: 10.1161/STROKEAHA.117.017066. Epub 2017 Apr 17. Stroke. 2017. PMID: 28416625 No abstract available.
Response by Lubitz et al to Letter Regarding Article, "Stroke as the Initial Manifestation of Atrial Fibrillation: The Framingham Heart Study".
Lubitz SA, Seshadri S, Benjamin EJ. Lubitz SA, et al. Stroke. 2017 Jun;48(6):e143. doi: 10.1161/STROKEAHA.117.017108. Epub 2017 Apr 17. Stroke. 2017. PMID: 28416627 Free PMC article. No abstract available.

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Stroke as the Initial Manifestation of Atrial Fibrillation: The Framingham Heart Study

Affiliations

Stroke as the Initial Manifestation of Atrial Fibrillation: The Framingham Heart Study

Authors

Affiliations

Abstract

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Comment in

References

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MeSH terms

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Full Text Sources

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Medical