Comprehensive management workflow of atrial fibrillation raises the compliance of patients: An observational cross-sectional study

Background: Low compliance works as a significant limitation to the treatment effect of patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) during clinical practice. This study aimed to evaluate the influence of a recently established AF management platform on AF workflow, including diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up. Participants and Methods: Patients diagnosed with AF from January 2015 to February 2019 in Huashan Hospital, Fudan University, were enrolled and classified into two groups depending on their hospital visits before (Group 1) or after (Group 2) platform establishment in this observational cross-sectional study. Clinical characteristics, including clinical comorbidities, medications, and clinical events, were compared before and after the establishment of AF management platform. This study was approved by the Institutional Review Board of Huashan Hospital, Fudan University (approval No. KY2019-552), in May 2019. Results: In this study, 8343 hospital visits by patients were involved in Group 1 and 13,294 records in Group 2, from which several key points could be shown: (1) a downward trend in various comorbidities; (2) the follow-up frequency distinctly increased, especially among outpatients with low CHA2DS2-VASc scores; (3) a significant increase in anticoagulant use in patients with different stroke risks; and (4) the main indicators that affected anticoagulant use differed between the two groups. Conclusion: This comprehensive management platform can raise the compliance of AF patients, which shows superiority to conventional workflow in overall effect.