Are Patients with Short-Duration Atrial Fibrillation at Risk for Stroke?

Despite questions about the accuracy of CHA₂DS₂-VASc, it is useful for predicting which patients with clinically diagnosed atrial fibrillation (AF) would benefit from anticoagulation. However, less is known about the common entity of asymptomatic AF discovered on implantable devices. Two decades of data suggest that for individuals with asymptomatic AF episodes >24 hours, the risk for stroke and systemic embolization (SSE) approaches that of clinically diagnosed AF and thus, depending on CHA₂DS₂-VASc score, anticoagulation is warranted (SSE risk seems minimal when AF lasts <5 minutes). To examine whether asymptomatic AF durations between 5 minutes and 24 hours increase SSE risk and thus warrant anticoagulation, researchers linked a manufact…