Download PDF
Open Access
CC BY 4.0 · Thromb Haemost
DOI: 10.1055/a-2780-0387
Invited Clinical Focus

SAFER: A Programme of Research to Determine if Intermittent Single-Lead ECG Screening for Atrial Fibrillation Reduces the Risk of Stroke

Authors

  • Jonathan Mant

    1   Department of Public Health and Primary Care, Primary Care Unit, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom

  • Andrew Dymond

    1   Department of Public Health and Primary Care, Primary Care Unit, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom

  • Kate Williams

    1   Department of Public Health and Primary Care, Primary Care Unit, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom
    • on behalf of the SAFER Investigators

Funding Information The SAFER programme is funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Programme Grants for Applied Research (RP-PG-0217-20007). SAFER is a contributor to/partner of AFFECT-EU, receiving funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under grant agreement number 847770. The NIHR School for Primary Care Research (SPCR-2014-10043, project 410) funded parts of the feasibility study. This work was supported by core funding from the NIHR Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre (NIHR203312).The views expressed are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the NHS, the NIHR or the United Kingdom Department of Health and Social Care. Clinical Trial Registration ISRCTN72104369
Further Information
  Permissions and Reprints

Abstract

This article describes the SAFER (Screening for Atrial Fibrillation with ECG to Reduce stroke) programme that was established to determine whether intermittent screening for atrial fibrillation with a single-lead electrocardiogram reduces the risk of stroke and other key outcomes such as death, dementia and cardiovascular disease. The programme comprises feasibility studies, a pilot trial, a randomised controlled trial, qualitative studies and an economic analysis. Recruitment and screening for the trial have been completed, and it is anticipated that follow-up will finish in 2027.

Keywords

atrial fibrillation - stroke prevention - screening

‡ The details of the SAFER Investigators are given in the [Supplementary Appendix] (available in the online version only).


Supplementary Material



Publication History

Received: 23 October 2025

Accepted after revision: 29 December 2025

Accepted Manuscript online:
15 January 2026

Article published online:
30 January 2026

© 2026. The Author(s). This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, permitting unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction so long as the original work is properly cited. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Georg Thieme Verlag KG
Oswald-Hesse-Straße 50, 70469 Stuttgart, Germany