Physicians lack a precise and unique definition for valvular versus non-valvular atrial fibrillation, indicating an urgent need for standardized definitions to improve clinical practice and research.
May cause inconsistent anticoagulation decisions; leaves open whether standardized definitions improve trial comparability.
We found important heterogeneity and uncertainties in the answers given by physicians who usually treat patients with AF, as evidence of the lack of precise and unique definitions of the origin of AF (valvular/non-valvular). It is urgent to issue clear widely accepted definitions of the origin of AF, which should improve clinical practice and research.
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Molteni et al. (2014) studied this question.
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