Epidemiology of atrial fibrillation in France: Extrapolation of international epidemiological data to France and analysis of French hospitalization data

Abstract

The prevalence of atrial fibrillation is steadily increasing throughout the world because of ageing populations and better management of coronary heart disease. An international literature review was conducted to estimate the prevalence and incidence of atrial fibrillation in France. A review of the literature on comorbidities was also performed. Finally, French mortality and hospitalization data were analysed using the PMSI database. The prevalence of atrial fibrillation is estimated to be between 600,000 and 1 million people; of these, two-thirds are aged >75 years. The incidence is estimated at between 110,000 and 230,000 new cases per year. In 2008, 412,000 hospitalized patients had a diagnosis of atrial fibrillation; this figure increased by 26% in the 3-year period between 2005 and 2008. These findings highlight the importance of targeting therapy, of upstream therapy, and of therapy that provides clear clinical and economic advantages over the well-established reductions already achieved in atrial fibrillation morbidity, mortality and cost. In addition, new prevention strategies should be developed, particularly secondary prevention strategies in patients with cardiovascular diseases.

Cardiovascular and non-cardiovascular hospital admissions associated with atrial fibrillation: a Danish nationwide, retrospective cohort study

“…However, even though several studies have found that heart failure and ischaemic heart disease are among the most common comorbidities in AF patients, data are scarce regarding the relative risk of admission for these diagnoses for AF patients. 8 16 33-35 We found that the RR of admission was 11.0 (95% CI 10.9 to 11.1, p<0.0001) for heart failure and 6.8 (95% CI 6.8 to 6.8, p<0.0001) for ischaemic heart disease.…”

Vitamin K Antagonist Treatment in Patients With Atrial Fibrillation and Time in Therapeutic Range in Four European Countries

“…In France, the number of subjects with AF has been estimated to be between 600,000 and 1 million, with a median age at diagnosis of 75 years. 5 AF affects at least 1% of the population in Germany 6 and 1.3% in Italy. 7 Epidemiologic studies in the United Kingdom have reported prevalence rates for AF of 0.65% in subjects aged 45 to 64 years in the general population 8 and 4.7% in subjects 465 years old in primary care.…”

Patients With Ischemic Stroke and Incident Atrial Fibrillation

“…The reliability of PMSI data has already been assessed, 17,18 and PMSI has previously been used to study patients with stroke, myocardial infarction, and AF. [19][20][21] The study population comprised adults with a diagnosis of acute ischemic stroke (I63 and its subsections using International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision codes) coded in the principal diagnosis (ie, the health problem that justified admission to hospital), the related diagnosis (ie, potential chronic disease or health state during hospital stay), or the significantly associated diagnosis (ie, comorbidity or associated complication) who were hospitalized from January 1 to December 31, 2009. Of note, asymptomatic cerebrovascular diseases and sequelae of stroke have different codes (I65-I66 and I69 with subdivisions) to be distinguished from acute strokes in the patients of our analysis.…”