Atrial fibrillation prevalence - ICP Outcomes Framework - Registered Locality

This dataset provides insights into the prevalence of atrial fibrillation (AF) among patients registered with GP practices in England. It captures the proportion of individuals diagnosed with AF, based on entries in the Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF) disease registers maintained by NHS Digital. The data is presented as a percentage of the total practice list size and is intended to support cardiovascular health monitoring and service planning.

Rationale

Atrial fibrillation is a common cardiac arrhythmia associated with increased risk of stroke and other cardiovascular complications. Monitoring its prevalence helps identify population health trends and supports efforts to reduce the burden of AF through early detection, effective management, and prevention strategies.

Numerator

The numerator is the number of patients diagnosed with atrial fibrillation, as recorded on their GP practice's disease register. This data is sourced from the Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF), managed by NHS Digital.

Denominator

The denominator is the total number of patients registered at the GP practice (total practice list size), also sourced from the QOF dataset provided by NHS Digital.

Caveats

No specific caveats were noted in the source metadata. However, the accuracy of prevalence estimates may be influenced by variations in clinical coding practices and diagnostic criteria across GP practices.

External References

Public Health England - Fingertips Tool

Localities Explained

This dataset contains data based on either the resident locality or registered locality of the patient, a distinction is made between resident locality and registered locality populations:

• Resident Locality refers to individuals who live within the defined geographic boundaries of the locality. These boundaries are aligned with official administrative areas such as wards and Lower Layer Super Output Areas (LSOAs).
• Registered Locality refers to individuals who are registered with GP practices that are assigned to a locality based on the Primary Care Network (PCN) they belong to. These assignments are approximate—PCNs are mapped to a locality based on the location of most of their GP surgeries. As a result, locality-registered patients may live outside the locality, sometimes even in different towns or cities.

This distinction is important because some health indicators are only available at GP practice level, without information on where patients actually reside. In such cases, data is attributed to the locality based on GP registration, not residential address.

Click here to explore more from the Birmingham and Solihull Integrated Care Partnerships Outcome Framework.