American Indians and atrial fibrillation

José M Sanchez; Gregory M Marcus

doi:10.1016/j.hroo.2022.08.010

American Indians and atrial fibrillation

Heart Rhythm O2. 2022 Dec 16;3(6Part B):760-765. doi: 10.1016/j.hroo.2022.08.010. eCollection 2022 Dec.

Authors

José M Sanchez¹, Gregory M Marcus²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Cardiology and Electrophysiology, Kaiser Permanente of Colorado, Aurora, Colorado.
² Section of Cardiac Electrophysiology, Division of Cardiology, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, California.

Abstract

The American Indian population is known to experience high rates of cardiovascular disease and have a heightened vulnerability to severe outcomes driven by an overall poor health status and lower access to quality health care. Our group has previously published an analysis demonstrating that American Indians have the highest risk of atrial fibrillation (AF), as well as of AF-related stroke, when compared with other races and ethnicities. Despite this, AF in this population has not been extensively studied and additional publications are scarce. Our review article provides an up-to-date summary of the relevant literature addressing the relationship between race, ethnicity, and AF by focusing on American Indians.

Keywords: American Indians and Alaska Natives; Atrial fibrillation; Epidemiology; Indigenous population; Race and ethnicity.

Publication types

Review