Low Level of Knowledge of Atrial Fibrillation and Anticoagulant Treatment among Patients with Atrial Fibrillation Scheduled for Cardiac Surgery

Objective: We investigated the knowledge about atrial fibrillation (AF) and oral anticoagulants (OACs) in AF patients scheduled for cardiac surgery compared with nonsurgical AF patients. Methods: We recruited 144 consecutive patients with documented AF scheduled for cardiac surgery on admission (aged 68.9±8.4, male 60.4 %). The control group represented 200 age- and sex-matched AF patients without indications for surgery. Using the validated...