Electrophysiology
Atrial fibrillation
AF management, anticoagulation, and rhythm control
Emerging pathwayAlso known as: AF, AFib, A-fib, atrial fib
21,704
Clinical questions
110
Evidence-backed
100
Claims analyzed
Electrophysiology
AF management, anticoagulation, and rhythm control
Synthesized from 110 evidence-backed clinical questions linked to this topic — 31 supporting the intervention, 21 against the intervention, 4 still contested.
Does vitamin k antagonist vs placebo improve outcomes in Atrial Fibrillation?
Low Certainty+ Favors benefitvitamin k antagonist vs placebo · Cardiac Index
85 studies (10,879,265 patients, 1 RCTs) provide low-certainty evidence for benefit of vitamin k antagonist for Cardiac Index in Atrial Fibrillation.
Does antiarrhythmic drugs vs placebo improve outcomes in Atrial Fibrillation?
Low Certainty− Favors harmantiarrhythmic drugs vs placebo · Cardiac Output
136 studies (1,207,614 patients, 1 RCTs) provide low-certainty evidence against benefit of antiarrhythmic drugs for Cardiac Output in Atrial Fibrillation.
Does anticoagulants vs placebo improve outcomes in Atrial Fibrillation?
Low Certainty+ Favors benefitanticoagulants vs placebo · Stroke Hospitalization
442 studies (63,370,348 patients) provide low-certainty evidence for benefit of anticoagulants for Stroke Hospitalization in Atrial Fibrillation.
Does warfarin vs dabigatran improve outcomes in non-valvular atrial fibrillation?
Low Certainty− Favors harmwarfarin vs dabigatran
5 studies (16,294,543 patients) provide low-certainty evidence against benefit of warfarin for the outcome in non-valvular atrial fibrillation.
Does anticoagulation vs placebo improve outcomes in Nonvalvular atrial fibrillation?
Low Certainty− Favors harmanticoagulation vs placebo · Ventricular Arrhythmia
190 studies (5,821,173 patients) provide low-certainty evidence against benefit of anticoagulation for Ventricular Arrhythmia in Nonvalvular atrial fibrillation.
Does beta-blockers vs placebo improve outcomes in post-operative atrial fibrillation?
Low Certainty− Favors harmbeta-blockers vs placebo · Left Ventricular Ejection Fraction
89 studies (4,443,111 patients) provide low-certainty evidence against benefit of beta-blockers for Left Ventricular Ejection Fraction in post-operative atrial fibrillation.
Does warfarin vs placebo improve Major Bleeding in Atrial Fibrillation?
Insufficient~ Mixed resultswarfarin vs placebo · Major Bleeding
25 studies (270,202 patients) provide insufficient evidence with mixed findings regarding warfarin for Major Bleeding in Atrial Fibrillation.
Does apixaban vs aspirin improve outcomes in subclinical atrial fibrillation?
Low Certainty+ Favors benefitapixaban vs aspirin
13 studies (21,376 patients) provide low-certainty evidence for benefit of apixaban for the outcome in subclinical atrial fibrillation.
Emerging evidence with 100 primary claims
Specific, answerable questions in this area — each with its own synthesized evidence and consensus. Open one to see the forest plot, source trials, and how the consensus has changed over time.
Does apixaban vs warfarin improve outcomes in Atrial Fibrillation?
Low Certainty+ Favors benefitapixaban vs warfarin · Stroke Hospitalization
Does dabigatran vs warfarin improve Major Bleeding in Atrial Fibrillation?
Low Certainty+ Favors benefitdabigatran vs warfarin · Major Bleeding
Questions where the synthesized consensus has shifted as new trials were indexed.
VA Journal Club: Factor XI Inhibitors and Atrial Fibrillation
UCLA #bruinhearts Journal Club Section — Fri, Aug 7, 11:00 AM EDT
Test session
Synapse Team — Tue, Jun 16, 8:00 PM EDT
Sessions from public journal clubs on Synapse. RSVP to join the live discussion.
Does the mechanism of action of biatrial pacing for atrial fibrillation involve changes in cardiac haemodynamics? Assessment by Doppler echocardiography and natriuretic peptide measurements
EP Europace — Levy T — Apr 2000
Prevention of Stroke in Patients with Atrial Fibrillation
Seminars in Vascular Medicine — Olsson S — Aug 2005
A combined pharmacometric analysis of dabigatran etexilate in healthy volunteers and patients with atrial fibrillation or undergoing orthopaedic surgery
Thrombosis and Haemostasis — Jan 2012
Non-Vitamin K Antagonist Oral Anticoagulants and Antiplatelet Therapy for Stroke Prevention in Patients With Atrial Fibrillation
Cardiology in Review — Kumar S — Aug 2015
Fall risk and anticoagulation for atrial fibrillation in the elderly: A delicate balance
Follow this topic to get a weekly “what changed” evidence digest and alerts when journal clubs schedule sessions on it.
Atrial fibrillation (also known as AF, AFib, A-fib). AF management, anticoagulation, and rhythm control
Synapse tracks 15 specific clinical questions in Atrial fibrillation, each synthesized independently from its own trial evidence. They include: "Does apixaban vs warfarin improve outcomes in Atrial Fibrillation?"; "Does dabigatran vs warfarin improve Major Bleeding in Atrial Fibrillation?"; "Does anticoagulant vs placebo improve Stroke (Safety Event) in postoperative atrial fibrillation?"; "Does rivaroxaban vs warfarin improve Ventricular Arrhythmia in Nonvalvular atrial fibrillation?"; "Does abelacimab vs rivaroxaban improve outcomes in Atrial Fibrillation?".
As of 2026-08-14, the scientific consensus on Atrial fibrillation is emerging. Emerging evidence with 100 primary claims Based on 100 analyzed claims across Synapse's enriched corpus, the evidence shows.
This evidence brief synthesizes Synapse's enriched cardiology corpus; cite as synapsesocial.com/topics/atrial-fibrillation.
Deterministic synthesis from Synapse's enriched corpus — 124 words. No AI-generated novel content; every figure is sourced from the underlying paper, guideline, or trial record linked on this page.
Explore every Atrial fibrillation paper on Synapse with AI-enriched clinical evidence, PICO analysis, and methodology classification.
Search Atrial fibrillation papersPowered by Synapse — AI-enriched analysis of 600,000+ peer-reviewed papers
Cleveland Clinic Journal of Medicine — Hagerty T — Jan 2017