AFFECT-EU

AFFECT-EU is an EU-funded consortium including 26 partners from academia and industry in 13 European countries, Australia, Canada and USA. AFFECT-EU’s major goal is the development of a risk-based, accurate, and ready for implementation atrial fibrillation (AF) screening algorithm, using digital devices, for early AF detection in the community. More details on the project can be found on the AFFECT-EU website.

AFFECT-EU Konsortium:

Involvement of 26 Project partners out of following fields:

• 21 Research
• 3   Not-for-profit
• 2   Industry

From:

• 13 European Countries
• Australien
• Kanada
• USA

Intention

AFFECT-EU will fill in the knowledge gaps regarding AF screening by integrating information from independent studies. These data will be used to implement a risk-based AF screening approach and to provide evidence on the superiority of AF screening using a robust community screening strategy for reducing AF related morbidity and mortality. Study information from eight European screening studies will allow an estimation of the efficiency of different screening methods. Based on data from continuous monitoring studies (e.g. Danish Loop), the total burden of AF detected by different types of screening, screening intensity, and screening intervals will be simulated.

Major considerations that AFFECT-EU will focus on:

• Dimension of the healthcare problem, relevance of screen-detected AF,
• Accuracy of digital screening methods,
• Comparison of different screening methods (opportunistic, systematic, single-timepoint, prolonged),
• Cost–benefit ratio, effectiveness, and efficiency,
• Feasibility, screenee, and healthcare professional acceptance,
• Adaption to the regional, local environment also overcoming inequities,
• Health economics of digitized screening,
• Outline of structured post-screening work-up processes,
• Raising the awareness of the detrimental effects of undetected AF in healthcare professionals, regulators, and the target population.