Evidence map›Paper›PMID 33411987›Full record

ReviewJournal of internal medicine2021

Large-scale screening studies for atrial fibrillation - is it worth the effort?

J Engdahl, M Rosenqvist

Open access · greenAbstract readReview
In one paragraph

Review in Journal of internal medicine, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
13citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
2.4field-weighted citation impact, top 11% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

13 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 22 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Population reach and participation rate in opportunistic vs. systematic atrial fibrillation screening: STROKESTOP III.Europace : European pacing, arrhythmias, and cardiac electrophysiology : journal of the working groups on cardiac pacing, arrhythmias, and cardiac cellular electrophysiology of the European Society of Cardiology · 2026
    Trial
  3. Trial
  4. Review
  5. Review
  6. External validation of a machine learning-based classification algorithm for ambulatory heart rhythm diagnostics in pericardioversion atrial fibrillation patients using smartphone photoplethysmography: the SMARTBEATS-ALGO study.Europace : European pacing, arrhythmias, and cardiac electrophysiology : journal of the working groups on cardiac pacing, arrhythmias, and cardiac cellular electrophysiology of the European Society of Cardiology · 2025
    Article
  7. [Detection model of atrial fibrillation based on multi-branch and multi-scale convolutional networks].Sheng wu yi xue gong cheng xue za zhi = Journal of biomedical engineering = Shengwu yixue gongchengxue zazhi · 2024
    Article
  8. Article
  9. Prostaglandin ICellular and molecular life sciences : CMLS · 2024
    Article
  10. Detection of Non-Sustained Supraventricular Tachycardia in Atrial Fibrillation Screening.IEEE journal of translational engineering in health and medicine · 2024
    Article
  11. Article
  12. When and how to Screen!Journal of internal medicine · 2021
    Article
  13. Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

2 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

J EngdahlFrom the, Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Department of Clinical Sciences, Karolinska Institutet, Danderyds University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden.ORCID 0000-0002-1677-7215
M RosenqvistFrom the, Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Department of Clinical Sciences, Karolinska Institutet, Danderyds University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden.
Karolinska University Hospital · SE

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is a common disease with increasing prevalence, approximately 3.2% in the adult population. In addition, about one third of AF cases are considered asymptomatic. Due to increased longevity, increased detection and increased prevalence of risk factors, the prevalence of AF is expected to at least double by the year 2060. Patients with AF have an increased risk for ischaemic stroke, heart failure, death and cognitive decline. Treatment with oral anticoagulation reduces the risk of ischaemic stroke and mortality, and the effect on cognitive decline is being studied. Based on the increasing prevalence of AF, its often asymptomatic and paroxysmal presentation and the efficacy of oral anticoagulation treatment, screening for AF has been proposed. AF seems to fulfil most of the Wilson-Jungner criteria for screening issued by the World Health Organization, but some knowledge gaps remain, gaps that will be addressed by several ongoing studies. The knowledge gaps in AF screening consist of the magnitude of the net benefit or net harm inflicted by AF screening because the oral anticoagulation treatment will also increase the risk of bleeding, and the psychological effects of AF screening are not very well studied. So far, the AF screening recommendations issued by the European Society of Cardiology have had limited impact on national and regional AF screening activities. Several large-scale AF screening studies will report results on hard endpoints within the next few years, and these results will hopefully manifest AF as a cardiovascular disease which we need to pay more attention to.

Indexed as

Atrial FibrillationMass ScreeningAnticoagulantsBrain IschemiaHeart FailureHumansIschemic StrokeRisk FactorsAnticoagulantsatrial fibrillationECGscreeningstroke

Identifiers

PMID33411987
PMCPMC8048511
OpenAlexW3118532911

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.