PRACTICE AND SPECIAL CHALLENGES OF ANTICOAGULANT THERAPY IN PATIENTS WITH ATRIAL FIBRILLATION

ABSTRACT

Atrial fibrillation is one of the most important, common and clinically significant arrhythmia. This arrhythmia alone is the most common that causes stroke, other systemic thromboembolism (STE), and heart failure. Atrial fibrillation increases the risk of stroke 2.5-fold, the risk of heart failure 5-fold, and cardiovascular mortality 2- fold. Prevalence in patients over 20 years of age is already 3%, and higher in selected patient populations such as patients with hypertension, obesity, diabetes, heart failure, renal failure, and valvular disease. Atrial fibrillation may occur in 2.3% of people over 65 years of age. In the first half of 2010, the total number of patients with atrial fibrillation was estimated at 33.5 million (of which 20.9 million were men), but with regional heterogeneities. The incidence of atrial fibrillation is 0.2-0.4 / 1,000 per year. Prevalence - ba - sed on European data - in the under-50 age group is between 0.12-0.16%, in the 60-70 age group is between 3.7-4.2%, and in the 80 year and older population it can reach 10% to 17%. The number of newly diagnosed patients in Hungary is 0.46%, with a prevalence of 3.1%. In 2015, the number of patients treated with atrial fibrillation was 306,914 and the number of newly diagnosed patients was 45,333. Based on European surveys, 14-17 million patients are expected to have diagnosed atrial fibrillation by 2030, which means more than 100,000 new diagnosed cases per year than now. The incidence of atrial fibrillation is increasing, therefore its appropriate and up-todate treatment is particular importance both at the level of primary care and specia lized care. In this publication, the authors present guidelines and challenges related to anticoagulation in patients with atrial fibrillation. © 2022 Literatura Medica Publishing House. All rights reserved.