Clinical Interventions in Aging (Aug 2016)
Prevalence of unknown and untreated arrhythmias in an older outpatient population screened by wireless long-term recording ECG
Abstract
Terese Lindberg,1,2 Doris M Bohman,1 Sölve Elmståhl,2 Claes Jogréus,1 Johan Sanmartin Berglund1 1Department of Health, Blekinge Institute of Technology, Karlskrona, 2Department of Health Sciences, Lund University, Lund, Sweden Purpose: With longer life expectancies, the prevalence of arrhythmias is increasing; thus, there is a need for new methods to screen the older outpatient population. This population-based study describes the prevalence of arrhythmias in 200 outpatients aged ≥66 years. We also investigated the feasibility of wireless long-term recording (LTR) using the ECG-BodyKom®.Methods: Two hundred elderly persons aged 66–93 years were recruited from the Swedish National Study on Aging and Care in 2010–2013, and data were collected via wireless LTR ECG-BodyKom.Results: Screening with the LTR ECG revealed that persistent atrial fibrillation (AF) occurred in 10% of the outpatient population aged ≥66 years. Paroxysmal AF occurred in 5.5% of the population, with no difference between younger (60–80 years) and older (>80 years) elderly participants. Furthermore, all patients with paroxysmal AF had a CHA2DS2VASc score of ≥2 and were therefore potential candidates for follow-up and medical examination. LTR ECG-BodyKom can be considered a feasible method to screen for arrhythmias in older outpatient populations. This simple method requires little of the user, and there was high satisfaction with the equipment and a good overall experience wearing it.Conclusion: The increasing occurrence of arrhythmias in the older population, as well as the high number of untreated cases of arrhythmias such as persistent AF and paroxysmal AF, poses a challenge for health care. Therefore, it is essential to develop effective strategies for their prevention and treatment. Keywords: arrhythmia, older people, prevalence, wireless long-term ECG
