FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, June 13, 2000
Contact: AHRQ Public Affairs
(301) 594-1364
Ellen McGovern, (301) 594-0312
[email protected]
NEW REPORT AVAILABLE ON MANAGEMENT OF NEW ONSET ATRIAL FIBRILLATION
The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) today announced the completion of a report assessing first-line clinical strategies, excluding invasive or emerging therapies, to guide doctors in managing atrial fibrillation -- a common cause of irregular heartbeat -- in patients at outpatient settings.
The report found that calcium channel blockers and beta-blockers are superior to digoxin in controlling high heart rates due to atrial fibrillation; warfarin, an anti-coagulant, decreases the risk of stroke by two-thirds; aspirin decreases the risk of stroke by one-third; and the use of blood thinning agents is cost-effective.
The report, commissioned by AHRQ, was developed after a systematic review of the literature by a team of investigators at the Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health Evidence-based Practice Center (EPC), Baltimore, MD. The topic was nominated by the American Academy of Family Physicians.
The 5-page summary, Management of New Onset Atrial Fibrillation is available online at http://www.ahrq.gov/clinic/atrialsum.htm. Print copies are available free of charge from the AHRQ Publications Clearinghouse by writing to P. O. Box 8547, Silver Spring, MD 20907, or calling (800)-358-9295, or (410) 381-3150 from outside the country. Copies of the full report are expected to be available by fall 2000.
Editor's Note: The following articles have been published by the EPC: Segal JB, McNamara RL, Miller MR, Kim N, Goodman SN, Powe NR, Robinson K, Yu D, Bass EB. "The evidence regarding the drugs used for ventricular rate control." J Fam Pract 2000; 49(1):47-59. Segal JB, McNamara RL, Miller MR, Kim N, Goodman SN, Powe NR, Robinson K, Bass EB, for the Johns Hopkins Evidence-based Practice Center. "Prevention of thromboembolism in atrial fibrillation: a meta-analysis of trials of anticoagulants and antiplatelet drugs." J Gen Intern Med 2000; 15(1):56-67.
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