ESC Congress 2024 — Improved patient-level adherence to guideline recommendations on heart rhythm control through healthcare professional education in patients with atrial fibrillation.

Investigator, Dr Dipak Kotecha (University of Birmingham, UK) joins us in London to share key findings from the STEEER-AF study (NCT04396418). 

This prospective, cluster-randomized international study compared two groups of healthcare professionals caring for atrial fibrillation (AF) patients. One group receives a 16-week training program on stroke prevention and rhythm control, while the other receives no extra training. The researchers will follow 1750 patients from 70 different healthcare centers for 18 months to see if the training improves patient outcomes, particularly stroke prevention.

Findings showed no significant improvement in guideline adherence for stroke prevention, however, a significant 51% improvement was observed in guideline adherence for rhythm control. There was also significant improvement in a patient-reported secondary outcome which evaluated eight domains of integrated AF management.

Interview Questions: 

1. What is the background of STEEER-AF?
2. Can you tell me more about the training provided in the intervention arm?
3. What was the study design and methodology?
4. What are your findings? Did you observe any differences between healthcare systems?
5. What were some of the challenges in this study?
6. What are the take-home messages?

Recorded on-site at ESC Congress 2024, London.

Editors: Jordan Rance and Mirjam Boros.
Videographers: Mike Knight, Dan Brent, Oliver Miles, Tom Green, David-Ben-Harosh.

Support: This is an independent interview produced by Radcliffe Cardiology.