. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2008 Feb 15.

Published in final edited form as: Med Clin North Am. 2008 Jan;92(1):17–ix. doi: 10.1016/j.mcna.2007.09.002

TABLE 6.

Risk Factors for Ischemic Stroke and Systemic Embolism in Patients with Nonvalvular Atrial Fibrillation

Risk Factors	Relative Risk
Previous stroke or TIA	2.5
Diabetes mellitus	1.7
History of hypertension	1.6
Heart failure	1.4
Advanced age (continuous, per decade)	1.4

Data derived from collaborative analysis of 5 untreated control groups in primary prevention trials.47 As a group, patients with AF carry about a 6-fold increased risk of thromboembolism compared with patients in sinus rhythm. Relative risk refers to comparison of patients with AF to patients without these risk factors.

TIA indicates transient ischemic attack.

Source:. Analysis of pooled data from five randomized controlled trials Arch Intern Med. 1994; 154: 1449–57.