PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Brystana G Kaufman
AU  - Sunghee Kim
AU  - Karen Pieper
AU  - Larry A Allen
AU  - Bernard J Gersh
AU  - Gerald V Naccarelli
AU  - Michael D Ezekowitz
AU  - Gregg C Fonarow
AU  - Kenneth W Mahaffey
AU  - Daniel E Singer
AU  - Paul S Chan
AU  - James V Freeman
AU  - Jack Ansell
AU  - Peter R Kowey
AU  - James A Rieffel
AU  - Jonathan Piccini
AU  - Eric Peterson
AU  - Emily C O’Brien
TI  - Disease understanding in patients newly diagnosed with atrial fibrillation
AID  - 10.1136/heartjnl-2017-311800
DP  - 2017 Aug 08
TA  - Heart
PG  - heartjnl-2017-311800
4099  - http://heart.bmj.com/content/early/2017/08/08/heartjnl-2017-311800.short
4100  - http://heart.bmj.com/content/early/2017/08/08/heartjnl-2017-311800.full
AB  - Objective To describe self-reported disease understanding for newly diagnosed patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) and assess (1) how disease understanding changes over the first 6 months after diagnosis and (2) the relationship between patient understanding of therapies at baseline and treatment receipt at 6 months among treatment-naïve patients.Methods We analysed survey data from SATELLITE (Survey of Patient Knowledge and Personal Priorities for Treatment), a substudy of patients with new-onset AF enrolled in the national Outcomes Registry for Better Informed Treatment of Atrial Fibrillation (ORBIT) II registry across 56 US sites. Patients were surveyed at the baseline and 6-month follow-up clinic visits using Likert scales.Results Among 1004 baseline survey responses, patients’ confidence in their understanding of rhythm control, ablation, anticoagulation and cardioversion was suboptimal, with ‘high’ understanding ranging from 8.5% for left atrial appendage closure to 71.3% for rhythm therapy. Of medical history and demographic factors, education level was the strongest predictor of reporting ‘high’ disease understanding. Among the 786 patients with 6-month survey data, significant increases in the proportion reporting high understanding were observed (p<0.05) only for warfarin and direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs). With the exception of ablation, high understanding for a given therapeutic option was not associated with increased use of that therapy at 6 months.Conclusions About half of patients with new-onset AF understood the benefits of oral anticoagulant at the time of diagnosis and understanding improved over the first 6 months. However, understanding of AF treatment remains suboptimal at 6 months. Our results suggest a need for ongoing patient education.Clinical trial registration Clinicaltrials.gov. Identifier: NCT01701817.