Synapse
⌘+K
Synapse
PulseExploreClubsResearchersJournals
Instagram
HomeClubsExplore
February 8, 2026European Heart Journal

Age predicts new-onset AF in the frail elderly while classical CV risk factors do not.

View Full Paper
Ask AI
Bookmark
Share

Why the study?

Classical risk factors for AF may lose discriminative value in frail elderly patients, so the study aimed to determine whether AF risk factors differ with increasing frailty.

Do classical cardiovascular risk factors predict new-onset atrial fibrillation within 1 year in frail older patients?

Population

751 patients with sinus rhythm at study entry

Comparison

Risk factors for new-onset AF stratified by frailty status (robust, moderately frail, severely frail)

Design

Cohort study

Follow-up

1 year

Key result

Age predicted new atrial fibrillation within 1 year in frail elderly, while classical cardiovascular risk factors did not; severely frail had low AF incidence despite high baseline prevalence.

Authors

JSJ SpruitLZL A R ZwartRJR W M M Jansen

Discussion

Loading...

Member takes

Overview

Classical cardiovascular risk factors may not predict incident AF in frail elderly; challenges prior models and leaves open frailty-specific screening needs.

Key Points

  • To assess the relationship between frailty and risk factors for atrial fibrillation (AF) in older patients.
  • Included data from the GERAF cohort at 1-year follow-up.
  • Performed regression analysis to evaluate risk factors and new-onset AF by frailty status.
  • Adjusted findings for age and sex.
  • Identified 31 new AF cases among 751 patients (4.1% incidence).
  • Baseline AF prevalence was 16% in robust, 27% in moderately frail, and 37% in severely frail patients.
  • Age was the only predictive factor for new AF across frailty subgroups, while classical risk factors were not predictive.

Structured PICO

Do classical cardiovascular risk factors predict new-onset atrial fibrillation within 1 year in frail older patients?

P
Population
751 frail older patients with sinus rhythm at study entry, stratified by frailty status (robust, moderately frail, severely frail)
O
Outcome
New-onset atrial fibrillation within 1 yearhard clinical

Classical cardiovascular risk factors fail to predict new-onset atrial fibrillation in frail elderly patients, suggesting that screening efforts should be targeted based on frailty status rather than traditional risk profiles.

Cite This Study

Spruit et al. (2025) studied this question. Age predicted new atrial fibrillation within 1 year in frail elderly, while classical cardiovascular risk factors did not; severely frail had low AF incidence despite high baseline prevalence.

synapsesocial.com/papers/698827b40fc35cd7a884691dhttps://doi.org/10.1093/eurheartj/ehaf784.403
View Full Paper
Ask AI
Bookmark
Share

Also Consider

Synapse has enriched 5 closely related papers on similar clinical questions. Consider them for comparative context:

  1. 1Polypharmacy and cardiovascular co-morbidity as key contributors to frailty in geriatric patients with AF – insights of the Dutch-GERAF cohort study2026
  2. 2Epidemiology and impact of frailty in patients with atrial fibrillation in Europe2022 · 72 citations
  3. 3Frailty to predict unplanned hospitalization, stroke, bleeding, and death in atrial fibrillation2020 · 58 citations
  4. 4Impact of frailty and atrial fibrillation in elderly patients with acute coronary syndromes2021 · 9 citations
  5. 5Association between atrial fibrillation, frailty, and geriatric syndromes in the late elderly in a south Belgian outpatient and inpatient setting2022 · 3 citations