Key result
AF stroke risk evaluation must extend beyond CHA2DS2-VASc to incorporate additional risk factors.
Why the study?
Stroke risk assessment in atrial fibrillation often relies on CHA2DS2VASc score but may overlook other relevant stroke risk factors inside and outside the heart.
Residual stroke risk persists in anticoagulated AF; observational data leave open non-stasis mechanisms and need for refined stratification.
Traditional teaching tells us thrombus formation in atrial fibrillation (AF) is caused by venous stasis due to a fibrillating left atrium. Indeed, this is often the line we tell our patients, perhaps miming a fibrillating heart with our hands. We try to quantify the risk of stroke using various tools, most often the CHA2DS2VASc but in doing so we may neglect to consider and manage other relevant stroke risk factors inside and outside of the heart. Yaghi and colleagues present an analysis from the initiation of anticoagulation study.1 In this subanalysis, patients with AF who are established on anticoagulation have a higher risk …
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Wilson et al. (2021) conducted an editorial in Atrial fibrillation. This editorial discusses a subanalysis highlighting that beyond traditional tools like CHA2DS2VASc, other relevant stroke risk factors must be considered in patients with atrial fibrillation.
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