SynthesisClinical research in cardiology : official journal of the German Cardiac Society2023
Screening strategies for atrial fibrillation in the elderly population: a systematic review and network meta-analysis.
Synthesis in Clinical research in cardiology : official journal of the German Cardiac Society, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled 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.
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.
Who cites it
9 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 6 citations in OpenAlex.
- Screening for Atrial Fibrillation in Stroke Prevention: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials.Reviews in cardiovascular medicine · 2025Pooled it
- Systematic, randomized atrial fibrillation screening using detailed phenotyping with a risk prediction model combined with patch electrocardiogram in a Swedish population aged 65 years or older: the CONSIDERING-AF trial.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 · 2025Trial
- Pharmacy-Based Atrial Fibrillation Screening Model Coordinated by a Regional Stroke and Cardiovascular Disease Support Center: The Catch AF Project.Circulation reports · 2026Article
- 7-Day Single-Lead Electrocardiogram Monitoring for Atrial Fibrillation Detection in Routine Health Screenings.JACC. Asia · 2026Article
- The BNP-to-Albumin Ratio (BAR) as a Predictor of All-Cause Mortality in Elderly Patients with Atrial Fibrillation.Journal of inflammation research · 2026Article
- Screening for atrial fibrillation in older adults in primary care: a cross-sectional pilot study in Qatar.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- Screening for atrial fibrillation: a narrative review.The British journal of cardiology · 2025Article
- Spotlight on the 2024 ESC/EACTS management of atrial fibrillation guidelines: 10 novel key aspects.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 · 2024Review
- Atrial fibrillation: epidemiology, screening and digital health.The Lancet regional health. Europe · 2024Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Opportunistic screening for atrial fibrillation (AF) is currently recommended for patients aged 65 years and older. However, this has recently been called into question by two studies that report that opportunistic screening is no more effective than usual care. Furthermore, there seems to be no consensus on which is the most effective screening strategy (opportunistic or systematic). Thus, we aimed to compare the different AF detection strategies with each other using the methodology of systematic review with network meta-analysis. An electronic database search of MEDLINE, CENTRAL, and EMBASE was performed. In addition, we also searched OpenGrey, experts' knowledge and screened the reference list of included studies or other relevant publications. The search was performed on the 2nd of November of 2020 and updated on the 20th of September of 2021. We performed a random-effects pairwise meta-analysis and a random-effects network meta-analysis within a frequentist framework in an intention to screen analysis. We reported the results as relative risk (RR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI). We assessed the confidence in the evidence using the GRADE framework. Nine studies were included, enrolling 80,665 participants. Pooled effect sizes suggested that systematic screening was effective when compared with usual care (RR 2.11; 95% CI 1.48-3.02; high GRADE confidence) and when compared with opportunistic screening (RR 1.86; CI 1.23-2.82; high GRADE confidence) but no significant difference was found between opportunistic screening and usual care (RR 1.13; 95% CI 0.79-1.63; low GRADE confidence). Systematic screening was the most effective strategy for detecting atrial fibrillation in individuals aged 65 years or older. Opportunistic screening was no more effective than usual care, but the results were weakened by a low quality of evidence due to risk of bias of the included studies and imprecision in the results. PROSPERO registration number: CRD42020218672.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
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.