WEDNESDAY, Sept. 18, 2024 (HealthDay News) — The prevalence of diagnosed atrial fibrillation (AF) in the United States is 4.48 percent among the adult population, according to a study published online Sept. 13 in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

Jean Jacques Noubiap, M.D., Ph.D., from the University of California-San Francisco, and colleagues determined the contemporary age-, sex-, and race-standardized prevalence and the number of adults with diagnosed AF in the United States. A cohort of adults aged 20 years and older who received hospital-based care in California from 2005 to 2019 was assembled; AF and other comorbidities were identified using the International Classification of Diseases codes. The U.S. census was utilized to calculate the national estimates of diagnosed AF.

Overall, 6.8 percent of the 29,250,310 patients had an AF diagnosis. The researchers found an increase in the proportion of patients with diagnosed AF, from 4.49 percent in 2005-2009 to 6.82 percent in 2015-2019. AF patients became relatively younger over time, and they were less likely to be female or White and more likely to have hypertension and diabetes. The current standardized national prevalence of diagnosed AF is at least 10.55 million, comprising 4.48 percent of the adult population.

“Given the adverse consequences and considerable health care utilization associated with the disease, this rising prevalence calls for greater resource allocation and more efficient prevention and treatment strategies to curb the increasing burden of AF in the United States,” the authors write.

One author disclosed ties to InCarda.

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