Atrial Fibrillation Screening and Education Study

Background/significance: Atrial fibrillation (AF) is a global epidemic that accounts for
15%-20% of 795,000 strokes occurring annually in the US, at a cost of $3.2 billion per year.
Atrial fibrillation-related stroke will rise with the aging population and places enormous
strain on healthcare resources and quality of life; yet they are highly preventable, by early
detection of AF. Timely treatment reduces AF-related stroke risk by 68%, yet treatment is
often delayed because people may not recognize the symptoms of AF or may be asymptomatic.
Given the number of people at risk for development of AF and the dire consequences of
untreated AF, efforts to promote early detection of AF through proactive screening of older
adults at risk for AF have been successfully undertaken in Europe and Australia. However,
little is known about the outcomes of conducting programs to screen for and educate people
about AF in community settings in the US.

Purpose: The purpose of this descriptive pragmatic study to evaluate the outcomes of a
community placed AF screening and education program. Primary outcomes include feasibility,
number of participants who screen positive for AF, and changes in participants' Knowledge,
Attitudes, and Beliefs about Atrial Fibrillation Self-Monitoring (KABAF-SM) scores from
baseline to two-weeks after enrollment.

Methods: Up to 250-participants who have at least two risk factors for developing AF and have
no previous diagnosis of AF will be recruited from Midwest community settings and will be
screened for AF using a mobile ECG recorder and will receive written information sheet about
AF. A portion (up to 125) of those 250 participants will be invited to complete the KABAF-SM
at baseline and 2-weeks after enrollment. Participants will have the option to participate in
a variety of AF educational activities to reinforce and enhance the written information.
Participants will be surveyed about their perceptions of the educational program after the
screening and participating in the educational activities.

Evaluation methods: Descriptive statistics will be used to analyze feasibility (enrollment
numbers, participants perception of the value of the educational activities, time required
for study procedures,and AF detection.T-tests will be used to test for differences between
KABAF-SM baseline and two-week scores for those who completed the KABAF-SM.

Inclusion :

Any two of the following:

- Hypertension

- Diabetes

- Sleep apnea

- Obesity

- Age > 75 years

- Peripheral arterial disease

- Female

Exclusion :

- Previous diagnosis of atrial fibrillation or atrial flutter

- Uncompensated visual impairment

- Uncompensated hearing impairment

- Inability to communicate verbally in English