Jan 28, 2022 This Week in Cardiology Podcast

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In This Week’s Podcast

For the week ending January 28, 2022, John Mandrola, MD comments on the following news and features stories.

AF Screening

• USPSTF Says Evidence Still Lacking for AF Screening in Asymptomatic Patients

This week JAMA published the latest US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) systematic review on atrial fibrillation (AF) screening. AF screening by doctors, that is. After a review of 26 studies, USPSTF found that the current evidence is insufficient to assess the balance of benefits and harms of screening for AF.

USPSTF is a notable group because they are independent experts in critical appraisal. Think Neutral Martians not cardiologists looking at the evidence. USPSTF assigns grades of preventive services on an A-B-C-D-I system. For example, A = high certainty of net benefit and doctors should offer or provide the service, while D = high certainty of no net benefit and harms outweigh benefits thus doctors should not offer this service.