- Researchers are reporting that people with atrial fibrillation have an average of five additional medical conditions.
- Those conditions include high blood pressure, coronary artery disease, and chronic kidney disease.
- In response, the researchers have unveiled a new software tool to help in the diagnosis and treatment of people with atrial fibrillation.
A new software tool is being developed to help in the diagnosis and treatment of older adults with atrial fibrillation and other medical conditions.
The project is being coordinated by the European Society of Cardiology and the European Heart Rhythm Association (EHRA). The goal is to streamline the evaluation of people with atrial fibrillation.
“This is the cornerstone of the overall aim of the project, which is to improve outcomes of patients with atrial fibrillation by systematic detection and management of underlying conditions, and by multidisciplinary referral or collaboration where needed,” said Hein Heidbuchel, a professor at University Hospital Antwerp in Belgium and scientific coordinator of the project, said in a press release.
The software was unveiled in a report at the annual EHRA conference in Barcelona, Spain, this week.
In their paper, the researchers identified 22 co-morbidities that can impact people with atrial fibrillation. From there, they developed pathways that enable physicians to look for or exclude a certain comorbidity as well as offer a guide for further evaluation and management.
The team then created a software tool that can be used by healthcare providers to evaluate those with atrial fibrillation in a systematic way.
The software will shortly undergo a clinical trial and be tested in 65 hospitals across Europe.
“Our vision is that EHRA-PATHS will demonstrate through its clinical trial that a systematic approach to co-morbidities, based on a software tool with interdependent care pathways, leads to better multidisciplinary management of patients with atrial fibrillation,” said…
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