Loading...
Trials of anticoagulants for stroke prevention generally involve patients with frequent and symptomatic atrial fibrillation (AF); however, the growing population of patients with implanted cardiac devices has enabled the detection of subclinical AF. The manufacturer-sponsored ASSERT trial in patients with a dual-chamber pacemaker or implantable cardioverter-defibrillator was designed to evaluate whether a special pacing algorithm would prevent AF and whether subclinical AF is associated with clinical events. All 2580 participants had hypertension and no history of AF.
Three months after enrollment, device detection algorithms had recorded subclinical atrial tachycardia (defined as an atrial rate >190 beats/minute for >6 minutes) in 10% of pa…