Chapter 14. Atrial Fibrillation and Other Rhythm Disturbances in the Elderly

  1. Stephen Jackson Professor of Geriatric Medicine3,
  2. Paul Jansen4,
  3. Arduino Mangoni5
  1. Abhay Bajpai1,
  2. Irina Savelieva1,
  3. A. John Camm2

Published Online: 2 APR 2009

DOI: 10.1002/9780470017975.ch14

Book Title

Prescribing for Elderly Patients

Prescribing for Elderly Patients

Additional Information

How to Cite

Bajpai, A., Savelieva, I. and Camm, A. J. (2009) Atrial Fibrillation and Other Rhythm Disturbances in the Elderly, in Prescribing for Elderly Patients (eds S. Jackson, P. Jansen and A. Mangoni), John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, Chichester, UK. doi: 10.1002/9780470017975.ch14

Editor Information

  1. 3

    Department of Clinical Gerontology, King's College Hospital, London, UK

  2. 4

    Department of Geriatric Medicine, University Medical Centre Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands

  3. 5

    Department of Clinical Pharmacology, Flinders University, Flinders Medical Centre, Adelaide, Australia

Author Information

  1. 1

    Department of Cardiology, St George's University of London, London, UK

  2. 2

    Department of Clinical Cardiology, St. George's University of London, London, UK

Publication History

  1. Published Online: 2 APR 2009
  2. Published Print: 27 MAY 2009

ISBN Information

Print ISBN: 9780470024287

Online ISBN: 9780470017975

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CHAPTER TOOLS

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Keywords:

  • atrial fibrillation (AF) - commonly encountered arrhythmia in clinical practice;
  • epidemiology and cost of AF;
  • atrial arrhythmias;
  • electrophysiological mechanisms of initiation and maintenance of AF;
  • atrial flutter and atrial tachycardia;
  • “idiopathic” or “lone” atrial fibrillation;
  • principles of management of AF;
  • suppression of paroxysms of AF;
  • rate control in permanent AF

Summary

This chapter contains sections titled:

  • Introduction

  • Atrial arrhythmias

  • The epidemiology and cost of AF

  • The mechanism of atrial tachyarrhythmias

  • Symptoms and signs

  • Diagnosis

  • Classification of AF

  • Causes of AF

  • Principles of management of AF

  • Treatment of acute onset AF

  • Suppression of paroxysms of AF

  • Strategies in persistent AF—rate versus rhythm control

  • Rate control in permanent AF

  • Risk of stroke and antithrombotic therapy in AF

  • Non-pharmacological techniques to prevent thrombus formation

  • Key points

  • References

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