The Report of Community-Based and Government-Endorsed Screening Program of Atrial Fibrillation in Taiwan

Abstract

Background: Although international guidelines recommended opportunistic screening for atrial fibrillation (AF), the community-based AF screening program incorporated into the government-endorsed health care system is rarely reported in Asian countries.

Objectives: We aimed to test the feasibility of adding AF screening into the preexistent adult health check program and report the AF detection rate and percentages of OAC prescriptions before and after AF screening with the involvement of public health care systems.

Methods: We performed this program in three counties (Chiayi county, Keelung City, and Yilan county) in Taiwan which have their own official preexistent adult health check programs conducted by public health bureaus for years. However, electrocardiography (ECG) was not included in these programs before. We cooperated with the public health bureaus of the three counties and performed single-lead 30-second ECG recording for every participant.

Results: From January to December 2020, AF screening was performed in 199 sessions with 23,572 participants. AF was detected in 278 subjects with a detection rate of 1.19% (age ≥65 years: 2.39%; ≥75 years: 3.73%). The mean CHA₂DS₂-VASc score of these 278 subjects was 2.36, with 91% of them had a score ≥1 (males) or ≥2 (females). The number needed to screen was 42 and 27 for subjects aged ≥65 and ≥75 years, respectively. The prescription rate of OACs significantly increased from 11.4 to 60.6% in Chiayi county and from 15.8 to 50.0% in Keelung City after screening (both p-values <0.001).

Conclusion: This community-based and government-endorsed AF screening project in Taiwan demonstrated that incorporation of AF screening into the preexistent adult health check programs through co-operations with the government was feasible. Actions to detect AF, good education, and well-organized transferring plan after AF being detected with the involvement of public health care systems could result in a substantial increase in the prescription rate of OACs.