Yet a Long Way to Go in A-Fib Guidelines

Guidelines are important documents that “guide” clinical and reimbursement decisions. They also serve as educational tools; indeed, many examination questions from the American Board of Internal Medicine directly test knowledge of guidelines. The current researchers evaluated the evolution of clinical guidelines for atrial fibrillation (AF) issued from 2001 through 2014 by the American College of Cardiology, American Heart Association, and Heart Rhythm Society. The authors examined the recommendations' classifications by class (anticipated benefit vs. risk) and level of evidence (LOE) supporting the recommendation.

The number of recommendations increased from 95 in 2001 to 113 in 2014. Despite multitudinous studies and publications published…