Comparison of Atrial Fibrillation in the Young versus That in the Elderly: A Review

Table 6

Common differences between AF in the young versus elderly.

	AF in the young	AF in elderly patients
Causes	(i) Idiopathic	(i) Ischaemic heart disease
	(ii) Genetic	(ii) Heart failure
	(iii) Alcohol, smoking	(iii) Valvular heart disease
	(iv) Personality traits	(iv) Hypertension
	(v) Body mass index	(v) Cardiomyopathies
	(vi) Endurance sports	(vi) Hyperthyroidism
	(vii) Cardiac pathologies	(vii) Secondary causes such as post operative, infection, pulmonary embolism
	(viii) Endocrine disorders	(viii) Idiopathic
Pathogenesis	Triggers/pulmonary vein Repetitive activity +++; Substrate/atrial abnormalities +	Pulmonary vein repetitive activity ++; Atrial Abnormalities +++
Clinical features	Usually typical symptoms	Atypical symptoms or asymptomatic
Management	Rhythm control preferred; Thromboprophylaxis usually not required unless based on CHADS2VASC	Rate control preferred; Thromboprophylaxis usually required unless contraindicated