# 2024 ESC atrial fibrillation guidelines Guideline · id `cardio:guideline-esc-2024-af` · Cardiovascular Atlas · release `5dcd9b263fe17744` (public) > General information from published sources, not medical advice, and not reviewed by clinicians. Check the cited source before relying on anything here. The atlas's own text and curation may be reused under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/): credit the atlas, and do not use it commercially. See the atlas About page. Text quoted from a source stays under that source's own terms, given as the source's reuse\_basis. The atlas's reuse terms do not cover it. The downloads list each quotation with its source in third\_party\_quotations. Also called: 2024 ESC Guidelines for the management of atrial fibrillation developed in collaboration with the European Association for Cardio-Thoracic Surgery (EACTS) Browse, organ or system: Heart Browse, condition area: Heart rhythm problems ## In plain language The 2024 atrial fibrillation guidelines of the European Society of Cardiology, developed jointly with a European cardio-thoracic surgery association. The ESC page says they are built around a framework called AF-CARE: comorbidities and risk factors first, then avoiding stroke, then rate and rhythm control, then evaluation over time. The ESC allows reuse of its guidelines only under its terms, so this atlas states what it read in its own words. ## Technical summary European Heart Journal 2024;45(36):3314-3414, doi 10.1093/eurheartj/ehae176, PMID 39210723. The ESC page dates the guideline 30 Aug, 2024. PubMed names the ESC Scientific Document Group as author, holds no abstract, lists no PMC copy and lists one correction (2025-11-03), whose text was not read. EACTS has no record in this atlas. Only the ESC page summary and the PubMed record were read; the recommendations were not. ## Claims, with the population each applies to ## Context: Patients with atrial fibrillation (2024 ESC guideline) Recipient: Recipient not specified; Population: Patients with atrial fibrillation. The ESC page summary gives no age limits and no inclusion criteria.; Care setting: Not stated on the ESC page.; Geography: Europe (a European Society of Cardiology guideline; the page names no jurisdiction); Life stage: Not stated on the ESC page; Gestational age: Not reported; Postnatal age: Not reported; Follow-up: Not applicable (guideline context) ### The ESC page for the 2024 ESC atrial fibrillation guideline, dated 30 August 2024, says the task force developed a framework called AF-CARE for the guideline. The framework puts comorbidities and risk factors first, then avoiding stroke and thromboembolism, then reducing symptoms through rate and rhythm control, and finally individual evaluation and reassessment over time. - Category: Description - Evidence stage: Guidance - Certainty: Certainty not assessed - Applies to: Recipient: Recipient not specified; Population: Patients with atrial fibrillation. The ESC page summary gives no age limits and no inclusion criteria.; Care setting: Not stated on the ESC page.; Geography: Europe (a European Society of Cardiology guideline; the page names no jurisdiction); Life stage: Not stated on the ESC page; Gestational age: Not reported; Postnatal age: Not reported; Follow-up: Not applicable (guideline context) - Limitations: Only the ESC page summary and the PubMed record (which holds no abstract) were read; the guideline text, its recommendations and their classes were not. ESC content is cite only, so this atlas states the summary in its own words. PubMed lists one correction (2025-11-03); its text was not read, so it is not known whether it changes anything stated here. - Last checked: 2026-10-15 - Source problem: a cited source is corrected. Check the sources before relying on this claim. - Sources: 1. Supports: 2024 ESC Guidelines for the management of atrial fibrillation developed in collaboration with the European Association for Cardio-Thoracic Surgery (EACTS) (Guideline, edition Issued by the European Society of Cardiology, in collaboration with EACTS, and published in European Heart Journal 45(36):3314-3414 (PubMed issue date 2024-09-29; the ESC page dates the guideline 30 Aug, 2024). PubMed holds no abstract and lists no PMC copy; the guideline text was not read. PubMed lists 1 correction to the guideline; their text was not read. The publisher field is the journal title as PubMed gives it.) Locator: Summary paragraph 1, sentence 1, fragments 1 and 2. Retrieved 2026-10-15T13:52:08Z. Source state: Corrected. Snapshot hash: f4692f3ade321c24fe6c176fc5cc597fcf6c1faf277ee973f9bd134c3d62e14e. How it applies: The task force developed the AF-CARE framework. 2. Supports: 2024 ESC Guidelines for the management of atrial fibrillation developed in collaboration with the European Association for Cardio-Thoracic Surgery (EACTS) (Guideline, edition Issued by the European Society of Cardiology, in collaboration with EACTS, and published in European Heart Journal 45(36):3314-3414 (PubMed issue date 2024-09-29; the ESC page dates the guideline 30 Aug, 2024). PubMed holds no abstract and lists no PMC copy; the guideline text was not read. PubMed lists 1 correction to the guideline; their text was not read. The publisher field is the journal title as PubMed gives it.) Locator: Summary paragraph 2, sentence 1. Retrieved 2026-10-15T13:52:08Z. Source state: Corrected. Snapshot hash: f4692f3ade321c24fe6c176fc5cc597fcf6c1faf277ee973f9bd134c3d62e14e. How it applies: Comorbidities and risk factors come first. 3. Supports: 2024 ESC Guidelines for the management of atrial fibrillation developed in collaboration with the European Association for Cardio-Thoracic Surgery (EACTS) (Guideline, edition Issued by the European Society of Cardiology, in collaboration with EACTS, and published in European Heart Journal 45(36):3314-3414 (PubMed issue date 2024-09-29; the ESC page dates the guideline 30 Aug, 2024). PubMed holds no abstract and lists no PMC copy; the guideline text was not read. PubMed lists 1 correction to the guideline; their text was not read. The publisher field is the journal title as PubMed gives it.) Locator: Summary paragraph 2, sentence 3, fragments 1 and 2. Retrieved 2026-10-15T13:52:08Z. Source state: Corrected. Snapshot hash: f4692f3ade321c24fe6c176fc5cc597fcf6c1faf277ee973f9bd134c3d62e14e. How it applies: Then stroke avoidance, then rate and rhythm control. 4. Supports: 2024 ESC Guidelines for the management of atrial fibrillation developed in collaboration with the European Association for Cardio-Thoracic Surgery (EACTS) (Guideline, edition Issued by the European Society of Cardiology, in collaboration with EACTS, and published in European Heart Journal 45(36):3314-3414 (PubMed issue date 2024-09-29; the ESC page dates the guideline 30 Aug, 2024). PubMed holds no abstract and lists no PMC copy; the guideline text was not read. PubMed lists 1 correction to the guideline; their text was not read. The publisher field is the journal title as PubMed gives it.) Locator: Summary paragraph 2, sentence 4, fragments 1 and 2. Retrieved 2026-10-15T13:52:08Z. Source state: Corrected. Snapshot hash: f4692f3ade321c24fe6c176fc5cc597fcf6c1faf277ee973f9bd134c3d62e14e. How it applies: Evaluation and reassessment are individualised. 5. Background: 2024 ESC Guidelines for the management of atrial fibrillation developed in collaboration with the European Association for Cardio-Thoracic Surgery (EACTS) (Guideline, edition Issued by the European Society of Cardiology, in collaboration with EACTS, and published in European Heart Journal 45(36):3314-3414 (PubMed issue date 2024-09-29; the ESC page dates the guideline 30 Aug, 2024). PubMed holds no abstract and lists no PMC copy; the guideline text was not read. PubMed lists 1 correction to the guideline; their text was not read. The publisher field is the journal title as PubMed gives it.) Locator: CommentsCorrectionsList, ErratumIn entry. Retrieved 2026-10-15T13:48:59Z. Source state: Corrected. Snapshot hash: d1e19df4582f266be4c28fb304dded1b0ab0d5dd529a9ee1c995e235b663df5c. How it applies: Shows that a correction exists. What it changes is unknown. ## Connected pages - Task force of the society (ESC page): European Society of Cardiology (`cardio:esc`) ## Provenance Content hash: 058c63b33e3b3fd63b617ba6a7f44d282728663e293b06ebfe1edf06235b5e9c Last substantive edit: 2026-10-15 Evidence last checked: 2026-10-15