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The burden of atrial fibrillation in the Asia–Pacific region

The burden of atrial fibrillation (AF) is increasing worldwide; however, most existing data on AF epidemiology are from Western regions. According to our analyses, the estimated absolute prevalence of AF in the Asia–Pacific region in 2023 was approximately 80 million, which is much higher than has been calculated for other global regions.

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Fig. 1: Prevalence of atrial fibrillation in the Asia–Pacific region.

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Acknowledgements

C.X.W. and P.S. are supported by Investigator Grant Fellowships from the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia.

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Correspondence to Prashanthan Sanders.

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Competing interests

E.-K.C. declares research grants or speaking fees from Abbott, Bayer, Biosense Webster, BMS/Pfizer, Chong Kun Dang, Daewoong Pharmaceutical, Daiichi Sankyo, DeepQure, Dreamtech, Jeil Pharmaceutical, Medtronic, Samjinpharm, Samsung Electronics, Seers Technology and Skylabs. K.I. declares honoraria from Boston Scientific, Daiichi Sankyo, Johnson & Johnson and Medtronic. P.S. declares that the University of Adelaide, Australia, has received on his behalf research grants from Abbott, Boston Scientific, Becton Dickinson and Medtronic, and reports serving on advisory boards for Abbott, Boston Scientific, CathRx, Medtronic and Pacemate. The other authors declare no competing interests.

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World Population Prospects: https://population.un.org/wpp/

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Wong, C.X., Tse, H.F., Choi, EK. et al. The burden of atrial fibrillation in the Asia–Pacific region. Nat Rev Cardiol 21, 841–843 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41569-024-01091-1

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