Abstract 207: VITAL-AF: A Pragmatic Trial Integrating Routine Screening for Atrial Fibrillation During Primary Care Visits

Background: Atrial fibrillation (AF) is a common age-related arrhythmia associated with increased risk of ischemic stroke. Novel technology may permit efficient and effective AF screening among undiagnosed, at-risk individuals to reduce ischemic stroke through use of guideline-indicated oral anticoagulants (OAC). We designed VITAL-AF (ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03515057) as a pragmatic cluster-randomized trial in a large primary care network in the United States, with the primary objective of assessing the benefit of population-based screening for AF in older patients using a single-lead ECG as part of routine care. Methods: VITAL-AF was designed to be generalizable, implementable, and pragmatic. VITAL-AF includes all patients ≥ 65 years of age attending an outpatient visit in a participating site with a physician or nurse practitioner, embeds screening as part of routine assessment of vital signs at each encounter, utilizes clinic medical assistants rather than research personnel to conduct screening, and ass...