title: Assessment of the adherence of cardiologists to guidelines for the treatment of atrial fibrillation.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  No local studies evaluating the knowledge of cardiologists on the management of atrial fibrillation (AF) and their adherence to these guidelines are available.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the knowledge of cardiologists on the guidelines and clinical practices for the treatment of AF, correlating it to the time since medical graduation.
  
  
  METHODS
  Cross-sectional study randomly including cardiologists affiliated to the Society of Cardiology of the State of Rio Grande do Sul (Sociedade de Cardiologia do Estado do Rio Grande do Sul - SOCERGS). The physicians were divided into two groups, according to time since graduation: those graduated for more (G1) or less (G2) than 25 years.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of the 859 SOCERGS members, 150 were interviewed, and six refused to participate in the study. G1 comprised 71 physicians, and G2, 73. Differences were observed in regard to the following variables: use of betablockers as the first-choice drug for the control of AF response in 59.2% (G1) vs 91.8% (G2) (p<0.0001); use of digoxin as the preferred drug for the control of AF response in 19.7% (G1) vs 0% (G2) (p< 0.0001); warfarin as the preferred anticoagulant in 71.8% (G1) vs 93.2% (G2) (p=0.009); application of a risk score for anticoagulation in 73.2% (G1) vs 87.7% (G2) (p=0.02). In questions regarding the knowledge about the Brazilian Society of Cardiology's guideline for AF, the overall percentage of right answers was 82.3%.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Most of the clinical measures regarding the management of AF comply with the guidelines, and the clinical practice differs according with the time since graduation.
authors.forename: Cézar R
authors.initials: CR
authors.lastname: van der Sand
authors.forename: Tiago Luiz Luz
authors.initials: TL
authors.lastname: Leiria
authors.forename: Renato Abdala Karam
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Kalil
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001281:Atrial Fibrillation / Q000628:therapy*; D001938:Brazil; D002309:Cardiology / Q000592:standards*; D002983:Clinical Competence / Q000592:standards*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D019983:Guideline Adherence / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians'; D012955:Societies, Medical; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013997:Time Factors