title: How to optimize rate control in clinical atrial fibrillation management.
abstract: Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common sustained arrhythmia seen in clinical practice, and accounts for most arrhythmia-related emergency room visits and hospital admissions. The present-day management of AF is centred on improving arrhythmia-related symptoms, exercise tolerance, and quality of life, and reducing the morbidity and mortality associated with AF (ie, the prevention of stroke or systemic thromboembolism and tachycardia-induced cardiomyopathy). The contemporary management of AF is centred on the apparently competing strategies of rate and rhythm control, which are more appropriately viewed as complementary. This contemporary review will discuss the rationale underpinning the rate control strategy, and focus on practical aspects of undertaking a rate control strategy.
authors.affiliation: Division of Cardiology, Department of Medicine, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada; Electrophysiology Service at the Montreal Heart Institute and the Department of Medicine, Université de Montréal, Montréal, Québec, Canada. Electronic address: jason.andrade@vch.ca.
authors.forename: Jason G
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Andrade
authors.forename: Kenneth
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Gin
authors.forename: Charles
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Kerr
authors.forename: Marc W
authors.initials: MW
authors.lastname: Deyell
authors.forename: Santabhanu
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Chakrabarti
authors.forename: Krishnan
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ramanathan
authors.forename: Andrew D
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Krahn
mesh_terms: D001281:Atrial Fibrillation / Q000150:complications / Q000628:therapy*; D019468:Disease Management; D014943:Global Health; D006801:Humans; D009017:Morbidity / Q000639:trends; D013923:Thromboembolism / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology / Q000517:prevention & control