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Evidence summaries

Digoxin for Conversion to Sinus Rhythm in Atrial Fibrillation

Digoxin appears not to convert acute AF to sinus rhythm significantly more often than placebo. Level of evidence: "B"

A topic in Clinical Evidence 1 summarizes the evidence on digoxin in converting atrial fibrillation to sinus rhythm. Three RCTs with a total of 315 people found that digoxin was no more effective than placebo in converting AF to sinus rhythm (0.88 mg intravenously 51% vs 46%, 1.25 mg intravenously 47% vs 40%, oral digoxin 0.6mg, 0.4mg, 0.2mg and 0.2mg at 0, 4, 8, and 14 hours 50% vs 44%.

CE category: Unlikely to be beneficial.

Comment: The quality of evidence is downgraded by sparse data.

    References

    • Freestone B, Kamath S, Lip G. Acute atrial fibrillation. Clin Evid 2002 Jun;(7):1-10. [PubMed]

Primary/Secondary Keywords