Prevalence and incidence of interatrial block in global population and in different clinical situations

Abstract

The high prevalence of interatrial block (IAB) is widely neglected due to its frequent underdiagnosis. Its prevalence depends mainly on age and also on the presence of associated heart disease. In patients without structural heart disease, it is mainly an elderly condition. This is particularly true for advanced IAB, rarely found in global population before 65 years but with prevalence of 8% in the 70’s and 25% in centenarians.[1] When studying prevalence data of this condition, three factors should be taken into account in order to interpret differences that are frequently related with the methodology used.