Stroke rates vary substantially across cohorts of patients with atrial fibrillation

Commentary on: Quinn GR, Severdija ON, Chang Y, et al . Wide variation in reported rates of stroke across cohorts of patients with atrial fibrillation. Circulation 2017;135:208–19.[OpenUrl][1][Abstract/FREE Full Text][2] Oral anticoagulants (OACs) substantially reduce stroke risk in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF); however, they remain globally underused.1 One of the main reasons is the difficulty in stratifying AF-related ischaemic stroke risk at the individual patient level.1 ,2 Among scores stratifying AF-related stroke risk, CHA2-DS2-Vasc prevails in most recent international AF guidelines.3 ,4 Still, it remains unknown whether AF-related stroke risk is stable across regions, international cohorts or within specific CHA2-DS2-Vasc score strata. This systematic review included only studies reporting ischaemic stroke rates for patients with AF not on OACs, and assessed … [1]: {openurl}?query=rft.jtitle%253DCirculation%26rft_id%253Dinfo%253Adoi%252F10.1161%252FCIRCULATIONAHA.116.024057%26rft_id%253Dinfo%253Apmid%252F27799272%26rft.genre%253Darticle%26rft_val_fmt%253Dinfo%253Aofi%252Ffmt%253Akev%253Amtx%253Ajournal%26ctx_ver%253DZ39.88-2004%26url_ver%253DZ39.88-2004%26url_ctx_fmt%253Dinfo%253Aofi%252Ffmt%253Akev%253Amtx%253Actx [2]: /lookup/ijlink?linkType=ABST&journalCode=circulationaha&resid=135/3/208&atom=%2Febmed%2F22%2F3%2F110.atom