A Simple and Portable Algorithm for Identifying Atrial Fibrillation in the Electronic Medical Record

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is common and increases stroke risk and mortality. Many knowledge gaps remain with respect to practice patterns and outcomes. Electronic medical records (EMR) may serve as powerful research tools if AF status can be properly ascertained. We sought to develop an algorithm for identifying individuals with and without AF in the EMR and compare it to previous methods. Using a hospital network EMR (n=5,737,846), we randomly selected 8,200 individuals seen at a large academic medical center in January 2014 to derive and validate seven AF classification schemas (4 case and 3 control) in order to construct a composite AF algorithm.
Source: The American Journal of Cardiology - Category: Cardiology Authors: Source Type: research