Easy screening of outpatients for atrial fibrillation by analyzing fingertip pulse wave variation

AIM: Atrial fibrillation (AF), which can lead to cardioembolic stroke, is often not properly diagnosed in hospital outpatient departments or medical clinics. We therefore used a pulse analysis to screen patients for AF, and examined the benefits of using this method in screening. METHODS: We performed screening of the hospital's first-visit and ambulatory patients during the afternoon in 2014 (total number, 50,875; true number, 16,356), mainly targeting patients older than 65 years of age. Among the true number of outpatients, the device was used on 5,013 patients, 8,656 times. We independently developed a pulse analysis software application which analyzed the pulse interval variation. We assessed the accuracy of this analytical method in the detection of AF. RESULTS: score of more than 2, half had a history of arrhythmia in the past, and 37.5% were first-visit patients. The sensitivity of the device used was 89.7%. CONCLUSIONS: Using the method described in this study, we detected asymptomatic AF in numerous patients, and demonstrated that this method is potentially useful in screening outpatients for asymptomatic AF.