Lip et al proposed a flowchart for selecting patients with atrial fibrillation who may benefit from an oral anticoagulant for stroke prevention. The authors are from the University of Birmingham and Maastricht University.
Patient selection: atrial fibrillation without mitral stenosis or history of valve surgery
Oral anticoagulation is indicated if one or more of the following is present
(1) age > 75 years
(2) history of sroke, transient ischemic attack (TIA) or embolism
(3) male gender and >= 2 risk factors (see below)
(4) female gender and >= 1 risk factor (see below)
• If female gender is taken as a risk factor, then indicators #3 and #4 can be combined into >= 2 risk factors.
• If age >= 75 and history of stroke/TIA/embolism is weighted 2 points, then the flowchart can be consolidated further into the CHA2DS2-VASc (17.10.35).
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