World Congress of Cardiology Report - Although elderly AF patients are at much higher risk for stroke, they are undertreated for stroke prophylaxis compared to younger patients.
Additionally, they do not receive appropriate rhythm control therapy when symptomatic with their AF. Therefore, management of elderly AF patients less often complies with guideline recommendations compared to younger AF patients.
AF is the most prevalent cardiac arrhythmia in the western world. Incidence of AF dramatically increases with advancing age, and often coincides with other heart diseases, mainly hypertension, heart failure and coronary artery disease. Since the frail and more diseased elderly are often excluded from randomised controlled trials – which form the basis of management guidelines – doctors are often hesitant to apply research results to the elderly, and tend to treat them more conservatively than younger patients.