Cardiac Structural or Functional Changes Associated with CHADS-VASc Scores in Nonvalvular Atrial Fibrillation: A Cross-Sectional Study Using Echocardiography.

Background: CHADS-VASc is the most widely accepted scoring system for atrial fibrillation (AF) to assess stroke risk, although little has been revealed regarding the accompanying cardiac functional/structural changes. This echocardiography study was undertaken to understand the changes related to CHADS-VASc scores.

Methods: A total of 4,795 nonvalvular AF patients were enrolled for the cohort, from which 591 were excluded as they did not meet the inclusion criteria.