Premium
Time to develop guidelines for screening and management of atrial fibrillation in Indigenous Australians
Author(s) -
Lowres Nicole,
Freedman Ben
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
medical journal of australia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.904
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1326-5377
pISSN - 0025-729X
DOI - 10.5694/mja2.50513
Subject(s) - freedman , indigenous , citation , library science , sociology , media studies , political science , law , computer science , ecology , biology
Heart Research Institute, Charles Perkins Centre, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW. nicole.lowres@sydney.edu.au ▪ doi: 10.5694/mja2.50513 ▪ See Research (Nedkoff). Onethird of all ischaemic strokes are associated with atrial fibrillation (AF).1 Over the next 15 years, the number of AFrelated strokes in Australia is likely to rise substantially because of the predicted rise in AF prevalence.2 It is conservatively estimated that by 2034 more than 600 000 people in Australia will have AF, but these numbers do not take into account the higher prevalence of AF among Indigenous Australians.2 The prevalence of AF among hospitalised Indigenous patients under 60 years of age was reported by one study to be 2.57%, compared with 1.73% for nonIndigenous patients.3 These hospitalspecific figures possibly underestimate prevalence, however, as they do not include cases of AF detected in Indigenous medical centres or general practices, or people with undiagnosed AF.