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International Journal of Arrhythmia 2017;0(0):
Prevalence of Atrial Fibrillation in Korean Population
So-Ryoung Lee 2, Eue-Keun Choi 1
1Seoul National University Hospital, Seoul, Korea
2Division of Cardiology, Department of Internal Medicine, Soon Chun Hyang University Hospital Seoul, Seoul, Korea
Corresponding Author: Eue-Keun Choi ,Tel: 02-2072-0688, Fax: 02-762-9662, Email: choiek17@snu.ac.kr
Received: December 6, 2017.  Accepted: December 27, 2017.
Abstract
Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common cardiac arrhythmia in clinical practice and has been a major public health problem. Globally, AF prevalence has been reported to range from 0.4% to 2% in the adult population; however, the prevalence widely varies depending on the study population. Although AF prevalence in Asian population is about 1% lower than that in population from Europe and the United states, the number of AF patients in Asia is rapidly increasing corresponding with population aging. However, previous studies that reported the AF epidemiology in Korean population are limited. According to recent report based on the national health claims database, prevalence of AF in 2015 was 0.7% in entire Korean adult population and showed a continuous increase with population aging. Also, among patients with AF, mean CHA2DS2-VASc score was significantly increased and high thromboembolic risk patients has been increased over time. Although oral anticoagulation (OAC) prescription in AF patients increased from 35% to 51%, especially increased after introduction of non-vitamin K antagonist anticoagulants, a substantial proportion of Korean AF patients still remain undertreated. In this review, we aimed to summarize temporal changes in the prevalence and incidence of AF and evaluate thromboembolic risk in patients with AF. In addition, we discussed the utilization of OAC therapy in patients with AF in Korean population.
Key Words: Atrial fibrillation; epidemiology; stroke; oral anticoagulation