Sanofi-aventis announced the launch of the RealiseAF registry (Real Life global Survey Evaluating patients with Atrial Fibrillation), an international, cross-sectional, observational registry that will be conducted in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF). This disease can worsen patients’ prognosis, increase the risk of hospitalization, stroke and mortality. RealiseAF will provide a real-life picture of the global burden of AF in more than 10,000 patients in 27 countries.

“Sanofi-aventis is a major contributor to the efforts to reduce the public health burden of atrial fibrillation,” said Jean-Pierre Lehner, chief medical officer, sanofi-aventis. “The company strives to respond to the medical needs of patients and physicians, not only with innovative therapeutic solutions, but also via investment in registries such as RealiseAF, dedicated to furthering the understanding of the risk profiles of patients with atrial fibrillation.”

RealiseAF is designed to assess the control of atrial fibrillation (AF) and investigate the CV risk profile of a broad spectrum of AF populations in Europe, Latin America, Asia, Middle East and North Africa. This new registry is intended to generate new data on a broad AF population including patients with paroxysmal, persistent as well as permanent atrial fibrillation, AF due to transient causes. It will provide a better understanding of this disease and associated CV consequences, which may help to further improve the burden of AF.

“RealiseAF will provide more data to help physicians to understand the true impact of AF, its burden and how to improve outcomes,” said professor G Steg, Department of Cardiology, Hôpital Bichat, Paris, France, on behalf of the RealiseAF steering committee. “This study will give us a unique picture both globally and locally about the AF patient population and how patients are managed.”

RealiseAF was designed to complement the results of the RecordAF registry (Registry on Cardiac Rhythm Disorders, an international, observational, prospective survey assessing the control of Atrial Fibrillation), presented during the late breaking session of the American Heart Association 2009 meeting in Orlando, USA. The results of the RecordAF registry show that 18 per cent of all patients had cardiovascular (CV) clinical events at one year mainly driven by CV hospitalization. A rhythm control strategy was preferred by 55 per cent of cardiologists and achieved better therapeutic success than a rate control strategy (60 vs 47 per cent). Nevertheless, rhythm control strategies with existing therapies at the time of this study did not translate into better outcomes than rate control.

None of these two strategies appeared to be really satisfactory for physicians; 22 per cent of physicians changed their strategy and 52 per cent modified AF treatment within a strategy during the 12 months period.

These results highlight the need for newer anti-arrhythmic drugs able to successfully achieve rhythm and rate control as well as decrease clinical events.



The recruitment of the RealiseAF patients recently started at the end of October 2009 and final results are expected by the end of 2010. RealiseAF is supported by an unrestricted educational grant from sanofi-aventis.

The RealiseAF registry will follow more than 10,000 patients in 926 centers from 27 countries with a history of atrial fibrillation and at least one AF episode in the last 12 months, or documented current AF.