title: Novel Scoring System for Distinction Between Paroxysmal and Non-Paroxysmal Atrial Fibrillation.
abstract: Distinction of paroxysmal atrial fibrillation (PAF) from non-PAF is important in clinical practice, but this is often difficult at the time of first documented AF. Given that fibrillation cycle length (FCL) is longer in PAF than in non-PAF, the aim of this study was to compare various clinical parameters including FCL to establish a scoring system to distinguish PAF and non-PAF.
  
  
  
  The subjects consisted of 382 consecutive patients with AF on digital ECG at the present institute between 2008 and 2011. They were divided into PAF and non-PAF groups according to the following clinical course. Propensity score matching yielded 88 matched patient pairs with similar mean age and gender between the 2 groups. FCL was evaluated using customized fibrillation wave analyzer with fast Fourier transform analysis. On multivariate analysis, higher HR, longer FCL, and smaller LAD were independent predictors of PAF. For the scoring, cut-offs for each parameter were determined according to highest sensitivity and specificity on the ROC curves, and 1 point assigned for each parameter. Using this scoring system, 2 points detected PAF with 64% sensitivity and 84% specificity.
  
  
  
  We propose a scoring system including FCL to distinguish PAF from non-PAF. Further studies are needed to validate the results.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, Kitasato University School of Medicine.
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Oikawa
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, Kitasato University School of Medicine.
authors.forename: Shinichi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Niwano
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, Kitasato University School of Medicine.
authors.forename: Hidehira
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Fukaya
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, Kitasato University School of Medicine.
authors.forename: Hironori
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Nakamura
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, Kitasato University School of Medicine.
authors.forename: Tazuru
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Igarashi
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, Kitasato University School of Medicine.
authors.forename: Tamami
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Fujiishi
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, Kitasato University School of Medicine.
authors.forename: Naruya
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Ishizue
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, Kitasato University School of Medicine.
authors.forename: Tomoharu
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yoshizawa
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, Kitasato University School of Medicine.
authors.forename: Akira
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Satoh
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, Kitasato University School of Medicine.
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kishihara
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, Kitasato University School of Medicine.
authors.forename: Masami
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Murakami
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, Kitasato University School of Medicine.
authors.forename: Junya
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ako
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001281:Atrial Fibrillation / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D004562:Electrocardiography / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D005583:Fourier Analysis; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged
keywords: Fast Fourier transform; Paroxysmal atrial fibrillation; Score system