Relationship between Ischemic Stroke and Atrial Fibrillation, Systematic Review

Introduction: Atrial Fibrillation (AF) is not only one of the main causes of stroke, but it is also the most common sustained cardiac arrhythmia. As a result of population aging, an increase in the prevalence of AF and other associated chronic cardiovascular diseases, such as Systemic Arterial Hypertension (SAH) and Diabetes Mellitus (DM), is expected, contributing to a higher incidence of stroke. The magnitude of this fact reflects the reason why stroke is considered the second cause of death in the world, and the first cause of death in Brazil, in addition to being the second cause of cognitive losses. The main causes that favor the occurrence of ischemic stroke determine the situation of risk groups. Such factors can be classified as modifiable, non-modifiable and potential risk group. Objective: The aim of this study was to systematically review the public health literature on the relationship between ischemic stroke and atrial Fibrillation. Methods: Systematized literature review performed by searching the Web of Science database (Clarivates), Science Direct (Scopus), Wiley Online Library (John Wiley and Sons), Taylor and Francis (Taylor & Francis Group) and PubMed (NIH), using the descriptors Relationship between Ischemic Stroke and Atrial Fibrillation and other cardiovascular diseases in primary care, both in English and Portuguese. A total of 3860 articles were found, of which 64 were selected for the review by six evaluators independently. The articles surveyed are from the period 2015 to 2022. Results: In addition to the epidemiological magnitude, AF is important for its clinical consequences, including thromboembolic occurrences, with an increase, on average, of 4 times the probability of a stroke, in addition to being correlated with the high risk of all-cause mortality and other circumstantial determinants, such as heart failure. Conclusion: The analyzed studies demonstrated that there may be an adjusted incidence of ischemic stroke associated with AF and other cardiovascular diseases by stroke age, being age dependent in men. Social factors may contribute to the late discovery of the association between stroke, AF and other cardiovascular diseases.