Title: Diagnosing Atrial Fibrillation: the risk of silent atrial fibrillation

"Silent or asymptomatic AF is common and occurs in association with symptomatic AF but often alone. Survival of silent AF is the same as symptomatic AF. Since therapeutic success is often viewed on the basis of eliminating symptoms, silent AF often results in inadequate treatment. Silent AF deserves the same form of treatment as symptomatic AF, particularly in regard to anti-coagulation because silent AF is complicated by all of the adverse events associated with this arrhythmia. Quality of life scores in silent AF patients are reduced and the incidence of stroke is similar to patients with were symptomatic AF. Drug and ablation therapies often turn symptomatic AF into silent AF. Documenting AF depends on how long a patient is monitored, the ultimate device for this being an implantable device."