Survey of use of anticoagulation in patients with atrial fibrillation.

Five randomised controlled trials show that warfarin reduces the risk of ischaemic strokes and death in patients with atrial fibrillation.' We suspected that many such patients were not receiving warfarin and therefore reviewed the records of previous inpatients with atrial fibrillation to see how many were receiving warfarin or aspirin and whether those who were not had a specific contraindication.