© Christian Sticherling, Michael Kühne 2023

Study Overview

Design

Study Objectives Providing a long-term follow-up and covering a broad bio-psycho- social perspective in its data collection to generate a unique data base for future research is one of the prime goals of the Swiss-AF cohort.
Study Design The Swiss Atrial Fibrillation Cohort Study (SWISS-AF) is a prospective observational multicenter cohort study that was launched by investigators from the University Hospital Basel together with several external partners. Collectively, it aims to generate a Swiss-wide comprehensive and representative data collection in patients aged 65 years with paroxysmal, persistent or permanent AF. Starting in April 2014, Swiss-AF aims to enroll 2600 patients in more than 14 centres distributed across all language-regions of Switzerland within 24 months. Overall, the cohort includes a period of four years with yearly clinical follow-up visits encompassing assessments of personal characteristics, neurocognitive functions, disability and health economics as well as resting electrocardiograms. Brain MRI and blood sampling are included at baseline and after two years of follow-up. Further longterm follow-ups are intended.