Pulse-rate checks ‘may help to stop strokes in elderly patients’
THOUSANDS OF strokes could be prevented if GPs check the pulse rate of elderly patients, a new study suggests.
Encouraging GPs to check the pulses of patients over 85 could lead to increased detection of an irregular heart beat, also known as atrial fibrillation (AF).
People with AF have a higher risk of stroke but if they have been diagnosed they can be given medication to control the condition.
There is no national screening programme to detect AF and it often has no symptoms.
The condition – which can be detected through pulse regularity checks – is estimated to affect about a million people across the UK, with more cases among the elderly.
A study published in the
examined whether giving GPs prompts to check the pulse rate of elderly patients might improve detection rates for AF.
Researchers from Bart’s and the London School of Medicine compared rates of atrial fibrillation before and after the introduction of a system which prompted London GPs to check pulse regularity every five years among those aged over 65 and annually for those with certain conditions. They found that the prompts led to more pulse checks and an increase in the prevalence of identified cases of atrial fibrillation.
As a result, more may have been put on anticoagulant medicine which helps prevent strokes.
The authors estimated that across Hackney, Tower Hamlets and London, where the study took place, at least 28 strokes were prevented during the study period.
If extrapolated across the whole of England it could lead to 2,000 fewer strokes, they said.
The said: “Opportunistic pulse regularity checks can be rapidly and widely adopted in primary care. This is associated with an increase in the detection of new AF cases, management of which is likely to have an impact on the public health importance of stroke reduction.”