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Atrial fibrillation

Strict rate control unnecessary in AF?

Nature Reviews Cardiology volume 8, page 608 (2011)Cite this article

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Adverse cardiac remodeling does not occur to any greater extent with a strategy of lenient heart rate control than with strict rate control in patients with permanent atrial fibrillation (AF). However, female sex is independently associated with cardiac remodeling in this group of patients. These findings from the RACE II trial have been published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

“Rate control is [the] therapy of choice in many patients with AF since RACE and AFFIRM; however, the optimal heart rate during AF was unknown,” explains RACE investigator Dr Isabelle Van Gelder. A previous analysis of data from the RACE II study showed no differences between lenient and strict rate control in the incidence of cardiovascular events. The noninferiority of lenient rate control has now also been demonstrated in terms of cardiac remodeling.

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ORIGINAL RESEARCH PAPER

  1. Smit, M. D. et al. Effect of lenient versus strict rate control on cardiac remodeling in patients with atrial fibrillation. Data of the RACE II (RAte Control Efficacy in permanent atrial fibrillation II) study. J. Am. Coll. Cardiol. 58, 942–949 (2011)

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  1. Alexandra King
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King, A. Strict rate control unnecessary in AF?. Nat Rev Cardiol 8, 608 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrcardio.2011.136

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