Continuous electrocardiography for detecting atrial fibrillation beyond 1 year after stroke in primary care.

Background And Purpose: The diagnostic benefit of using continuous ECG (cECG) for poststroke atrial fibrillation (AF) screening in a primary care setting is unclear. We aimed to assess the diagnostic yield from screening patients who previously had a stroke with a 7-day Holter monitor.

Methods: Patients older than 49 years, naive to AF, with an ischaemic stroke over 1 year before enrolment were included.

[Clinical guidelines for antithrombotic therapy of patients with atrial fibrillation can be implemented in general practice by means of data capture].

Suboptimal treatment with oral anticoagulation therapy of atrial fibrillation is well-documented. The use of clinical guidelines and databases in general practice can improve adherence to the guidelines stipulated by the Danish Society of Cardiology. However, guidelines should be updated continuously, and in approximately 20% of our patients the application of oral anticoagulation therapy turned out to be problematic, even though they had a high thromboembolic risk score.