The AFNOR study used mandatory nationwide Norwegian registry data to track first stroke hospitalisation or death in those aged 15 and over from 2001 to 2021. Non-AF ischaemic stroke incidence fell by a third while AF-related ischaemic stroke incidence was unchanged (67.8 to 68.4 per 100,000 person-years) and rose in those aged 15 to 64; AF-related intracerebral haemorrhage rose in those aged 75 and over, concentrated among anticoagulated patients. Sixty-nine per cent of AF-related ischaemic strokes occurred in people not on anticoagulation.
Why it is interesting: Locates the stroke burden that has stopped falling in undetected or untreated atrial fibrillation rather than in treatment failure.