How is AFib intensity measured? (Mild, Moderate or Severe)

[dave205]

How is AFib intensity measured? (Mild, Moderate or Severe)

Do they use?

Minimum and maximum heart rate.

Number of AFib events in a week.

Average and maximum duration of AFib events.

Average and high heart rate during AFib event.

[SRMGrandma Volunteer]

You can definitely fill in all those blanks with numbers, but truly the way to measure if AF is mild, moderate, or severe is the impact that it has on your quality of life. Does it limit you mildly, moderately, or severely? That's the real measurement on which treatment is generally based, as all medications and procedures have side effects which much be balanced against the gain from their use.

[BobD Volunteer]

The only criterium is how it affects your quality of life. Nothing else is relevant. Many people with permanent AF are asymptomatic and only find out that they have it either when they have a stroke or during another health check. On the other hand you can have one event in a year and be affected by nerves and fear for the rest of time.

[Hidden]

If one person had a heart rate of , say, 120 BPM in AF & another 200+ BPM then I would have thought that the latter would be classed as ,' severe ' intensity

[mumknowsbest Volunteer in reply to Hidden]

Yes but it really does depend how it affects you. The person with 200 might have less symptoms than the person with 120

[Hidden in reply to mumknowsbest]

Do you really think so ? Having had 200+ many times I can't quite see that !

[PeterWh]

I'll throw another definition into the pot!!!! The amount of "electrical activity" / rogue signals when they do the testing. During my ablation my consultant EP went into another vein (would have been the second or third one) and said "this is a hive of activity in this one" and also said that the AF was severe.

[CDreamer]

Interesting question, if based solely on how it affects you I would have thought you could have what a doctor would call severe AF then, but if you were asymptomatic it may not affect your QOL?

[dave205]

I found the following:

Class definitions of the Canadian Cardiovascular Society Severity of

Atrial Fibrillation (SAF) scale - ranging from 0-4

Class Severity of atrial fibrillation

0 Asymptomatic with respect to AF

1 Minimal effect on QOL

- minimal and/or infrequent symptoms, or

- single episode of AF without syncope or heart failure

2 Minor effect on QOL

- mild awareness of symptoms of AF

3 Moderate effect on QOL

- moderate awareness of symptoms on most days

4 Severe effect on patient’s QOL

- very unpleasant symptoms

- frequent and highly symptomatic episodes

- syncope attributable to AF

- congestive heart failure secondary AF

Note: QOL= quality of life, AF=atrial fibrillation

References:

1. Dorian P, Cvitkovic SS, Kerr CR et al. A novel, simple scale for assessing the

symptom severity of atrial fibrillation at the bedside: The CCS-SAF Scale. Can J Cardiol

2006 April 22(5): 383-6

Reprinted from the Canadian Journal of Cardiology, volume 22,edition 5. Dorian P,

Cvitkovic SS, Kerr CR, et al. A novel, simple scale for assessing the symptom severity of

atrial fibrillation at the bedside: the CCS-SAF scale, 383-6. Copyright (2006), with

permission form Elsevier.