Abstract
The prevalence of atrial fibrillation (AF) increases substantially with age. The most recent data come from a cross-sectional study of adults in California, dealing with a population of 1.89 million [1]. The overall prevalence of AF was 0.95%; prevalence increased from 0.1% among adults younger than 55 years to 4.0% in subjects older than 60 years and up to 9.0% in persons aged 80 years or older. The authors estimate that approximately 2.3 million adults in the United States currently have AF, and project that this figure will increase to more than 5.6 million by the year 2050, with more than 50% of affected individuals aged 80 years or older. The estimate for AF in Italy is about 500 000 subjects, with an incidence of 60.000 new cases per year.
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Di Pasquale, G., Cerè, E., Lombardi, A., Sassone, B., Biancoli, S., Vandelli, R. (2003). Anticoagulation Therapy of Atrial Fibrillation in the Elderly. In: Gulizia, M. (eds) New Advances in Heart Failure and Atrial Fibrillation. Springer, Milano. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-88-470-2087-0_49
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-88-470-2087-0_49
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