ATRIAL FIBRILLATION PATIENTS AT THE AMBULATORY VISIT TO THE INTERNAL MEDICINE SPECIALIST

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is one of the most pertinent problems in internal medicine, primarily due to its severe thrombotic complications, such as stroke, myocardial infarction, pulmonary artery and thromboembolism, and their medical and economic consequences. This emphasises the importance of the detection of risk factors relevant to prognosis and of the effective and safe long-term preventive treatment with anticoagulants, particularly for ambulatory patients. At the moment, the focus is on the so-called new oral anticoagulants which demonstrate a range of benefits, compared to indirect anticoagulants

A patient with atrial fibrillation and comorbidities in clinical practice

This article focuses on the etiology and pathogenesis of nonvalvular atrial fibrillation in patients with comorbidities such as coronary artery disease, heart failure, type 2 diabetes, and chronic kidney disease. The authors discuss the interconnection of atrial fibrillation and these diseases, and also note the need for protection of such patients (prevention of cardioembolic stroke and other systemic embolism, reduction of coronary risk, improvement of prognosis, slowing the progression of renal dysfunction, increasing medical adherence, etc.) by adequate antithrombotic therapy that does not lose effectiveness and/or safety in presence of multiple diseases and polypharmacy