Frequency and Patterns of Electrocardiogram Testing among High-risk Elderly Individuals.
A, S., G, M., R, H., M, T., J, G., M, H., S, G., & S, M. (2026). Frequency and Patterns of Electrocardiogram Testing among High-risk Elderly Individuals.. The Israel Medical Association journal : IMAJ.
A S, G M, R H, M T, J G, M H, et al. Frequency and Patterns of Electrocardiogram Testing among High-risk Elderly Individuals.. The Israel Medical Association journal : IMAJ. 2026; PMID: 42557642
A S, G M, R H, et al. Frequency and Patterns of Electrocardiogram Testing among High-risk Elderly Individuals.[J]. The Israel Medical Association journal : IMAJ. 2026.
@article{a2026,
author = {Shiyovich A and Marcus G and Hamood R and Tirosh M and Goldstein J and Hoshen M and Gazit S and Minha S},
title = {Frequency and Patterns of Electrocardiogram Testing among High-risk Elderly Individuals.},
journal = {The Israel Medical Association journal : IMAJ},
year = {2026},
note = {PMID: 42557642},
}
TY - JOUR AU - Shiyovich A AU - Marcus G AU - Hamood R AU - Tirosh M AU - Goldstein J AU - Hoshen M AU - Gazit S AU - Minha S TI - Frequency and Patterns of Electrocardiogram Testing among High-risk Elderly Individuals. T2 - The Israel Medical Association journal : IMAJ PY - 2026 AN - PMID:42557642 ER -
BACKGROUND: Electrocardiogram (ECG) may detect atrial fibrillation (AF), but the true rate of ECG performance is unknown. OBJECTIVES: To explore the performance rate of ECG testing in patient populations at high risk for AF in a real-world cohort and to explore the incidence of newly diagnosed AF. METHODS: This retrospective observational cohort study included de-identified data of members of Maccabi Health Services older than 65 years, excluding patients with prior AF and other cardiac diseases. Patients were followed between 1 January 2016 and 30 September 2020. The number of ECGs performed in an outpatient setting for each patient was reported. RESULTS: In total, 211,515 patients (59.8% female) were included. The mean age was 70.3 ± 6.6 years, with a mean CHA2DS2-VASc score of 2.6 ± 1.0. During the study period, over half of the patients (n=112,340; 53.1%) did not undergo any ECG tests, 51,644 patients (24.4%) had one ECG, 24,914 patients (11.8%) had two, while 22,617 patients (10.7%) had more than three. Of the patients referred for an ECG, 67,433 (81.1%) underwent ECG testing within 2 months following the referral. The median time from ECG referral to ECG testing was 5 days. CONCLUSIONS: Most patients older than 65 years had no ECG tests within a 5-year period. However, when referred to an ECG test, most patients complied within a median of 5 days.