Occurrence of death and stroke in patients in 47 countries 1 year after presenting with atrial fibrillation: a cohort study

Background Atrial fi brillation is an important cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide, but scant data are availablefor long-term outcomes in individuals outside North America or Europe, especially in primary care settings. Methods We did a cohort study using a prospective registry of patients in 47 countries who presented to a hospital emergency department with atrial fi brillation or atrial fl utter as a primary or secondary diagnosis. 15 400 individuals were enrolled to determine the occurrence of death and strokes (the primary outcomes) in this cohort over eight geographical regions (North America, western Europe, and Australia; South America; eastern Europe; the Middle Eastand Mediterrane an crescent; sub-Saharan Africa; India; China; and southeast Asia) 1 year after attending the emergency department. Patients from North America, western Europe, and Australia were used as the reference population, and compared with patients from the other seven regions...