Table 1

Prevalence, incidence and contact rates per 1000 population by sex and age group for all continuous morbidity recording practices in Scotland, April 2001 to March 2002

Age group(years)	Population	Number of patients with AF	Prevalence rate	Number of first diagnoses of AF	First ever incidence rate	Number of contacts for AF	Contact rate	Number of contacts per patient with first diagnosis of AF	Number of contacts per patient with recurrent or persistent AF
AF, atrial fibrillation.
Men
<45	110 080	42	0.4	6	0.1	39	0.4	4.17	0.39
45–54	25 763	126	4.9	20	0.8	116	4.5	2.35	0.65
55–64	19 929	305	15.3	34	1.7	350	17.6	2.47	0.98
65–74	13 740	539	39.2	52	3.8	611	44.5	2.67	0.97
75–84	7256	532	73.3	54	7.4	545	75.1	2.85	0.82
>85	1628	137	84.2	14	8.6	102	62.7	2.36	0.56
>65	22 624	1208	53.4	120	5.3	1258	55.6	2.72	0.86
>75	8884	669	75.3	68	7.7	647	72.8	2.75	0.77
All ages	178 396	1681	9.4	180	1.0	1763	9.9	2.68	0.85

Women
<45	106 743	29	0.3	3	0.0	12	0.1	1.00	0.35
45–54	25 185	34	1.4	4	0.2	63	2.5	7.75	1.07
55–64	20 304	127	6.3	12	0.6	118	5.8	1.75	0.84
65–74	15 959	368	23.1	43	2.7	398	24.9	2.81	0.85
75–84	11 241	612	54.4	61	5.4	601	53.5	2.49	0.81
>85	4327	284	65.6	32	7.4	201	46.5	2.59	0.47
>65	31 527	1264	40.1	136	4.3	1200	38.1	2.62	0.75
>75	15 568	896	57.6	93	6.0	802	51.5	2.53	0.71
All ages	183 759	1454	7.9	155	0.8	1393	7.6	2.65	0.76

Both sexes
<45	216 823	71	0.3	9	0.0	51	0.2	3.11	0.37
45–54	50 948	160	3.1	24	0.5	179	3.5	3.25	0.74
55–64	40 233	432	10.7	46	1.1	468	11.6	2.28	0.94
65–74	29 699	907	30.5	95	3.2	1009	34.0	2.74	0.92
75–84	18 497	1144	61.8	115	6.2	1146	62.0	2.66	0.82
>85	5955	421	70.7	46	7.7	303	50.9	2.52	0.50
>65	54 151	2472	45.7	256	4.7	2458	45.4	2.66	0.80
>75	24 452	1565	64.0	161	6.6	1449	59.3	2.62	0.73
All ages	362 155	3135	8.7	335	0.9	3156	8.7	2.67	0.81