Department of Medical Research, Bærum Hospital, Vestre Viken Hospital Trust, Gjettum, Norway.
Center for Bioinformatics, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.
Open Heart. 2024 Aug 20;11(2):e002695. doi: 10.1136/openhrt-2024-002695.
Individual variation in the need for healthcare constitutes knowledge gaps for young atrial fibrillation (AF) patients. We aimed to estimate the prevalence and primary care burden of early-onset AF in Norway, emphasising sex differences, in a nationwide healthcare database.
We used data from the Norwegian Control and Payment of Health Reimbursement database to identify all Norwegian residents ≥18 years of age registered with a primary care physician (PCP) in 2019, with onset of AF at ≤50 years of age (early-onset AF) in the period 2006-2019. From the accumulated number of early-onset AF cases among current residents, we calculated the prevalence in 2019. The group-level primary care burden was calculated as the total number of annual AF consultations divided by the annual number of AF patients (2014-2018), and individual burden as the mean number of consultations per AF patient per year within the study period. We analysed the distribution of AF consultations between PCP and primary care emergency room (ER) services in total and by sex.
We identified 10 925 Norwegian residents with early-onset AF in 2019 (26.3% women, mean age 48.4 years). The prevalence of early-onset AF was 0.34% (women: 0.19%, men: 0.50%). The early-onset AF population had on average one annual primary care consultation for AF. The individual burden of annual AF consultations varied widely; <1: 66% of women and 54% of men, (1-5]: 25% of women and 36% of men, (5-10]: 6% of women and 8% of men, ≥10: 2% of women and 2% of men. A higher proportion of men (71%) than women (38%) attended both PCP and ER services due to AF.
The study confirmed a low prevalence of early-onset AF, with substantial sex differences and individual variation in primary healthcare needs. Our results signal a need for a higher resolution with regard to age groups in future research on burden and sex differences in early-onset AF.
个体对医疗保健的需求存在差异，这是年轻心房颤动（AF）患者的知识空白。我们旨在通过全国性医疗保健数据库，评估挪威早期起病 AF 的患病率和初级保健负担，强调性别差异。
我们使用挪威控制和支付健康报销数据库的数据，确定了 2019 年在初级保健医生（PCP）处登记的所有≥18 岁的挪威居民，在 2006 年至 2019 年期间，AF 的发病年龄≤50 岁（早期起病 AF）。从当前居民中早期起病 AF 病例的累计数量中，我们计算了 2019 年的患病率。群体水平的初级保健负担是每年 AF 就诊次数除以每年 AF 患者人数（2014-2018 年），个体负担是研究期间每位 AF 患者每年的平均就诊次数。我们分析了 PCP 和初级保健急诊室（ER）服务之间的 AF 就诊次数的分布情况，包括总分布和按性别分布。
我们在 2019 年确定了 10925 名挪威居民患有早期起病 AF（女性占 26.3%，平均年龄 48.4 岁）。早期起病 AF 的患病率为 0.34%（女性：0.19%，男性：0.50%）。早期起病 AF 人群平均每年有一次 AF 的初级保健就诊。每年 AF 就诊的个体负担差异很大；<1：66%的女性和 54%的男性，（1-5]：25%的女性和 36%的男性，（5-10]：6%的女性和 8%的男性，≥10：2%的女性和 2%的男性。由于 AF，男性（71%）比女性（38%）更多地同时接受 PCP 和 ER 服务。
本研究证实了早期起病 AF 的患病率较低，且存在显著的性别差异和初级保健需求的个体差异。我们的结果表明，未来需要对早期起病 AF 的年龄组进行更细致的研究，以了解负担和性别差异。
