Nonvalvular Atrial Fibrillation: Etiological and Clinical Profile

Abstract

Introduction Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common sustained cardiac arrhythmia with an estimated global prevalence of 37.574 million cases (0.51% of the world population) 1 AF has a heterogeneous clinical presentation and can be asymptomatic. It is often associated with heart disease but may occur in patient with no other detectable cardiac disease.1 By convention, the term "nonvalvular AF" is restricted to cases in which the rhythm disturbance occurs in the absence of mitral valve disease, a prosthetic heart valve or mitral valve repair.6 AF has significant morbidity and mortality due to the occurrence of both hemodynamic impairment and thromboembolic events.