Atrial Fibrillation Stages (2023 guideline)
Applies the 2023 stage-based classification of atrial fibrillation.
Open the calculator → Runs in your browser. Data leaves only if you deliberately send a problem report from the interactive tool.
Example
- Atrial fibrillation documented
- Yes
- Pattern
- Long-standing persistent: continuous beyond 12 months
Result: stage 3C
The tool opens with these values already filled in. Replace them with your own.
What the result means
- Stage 1
- At risk: modifiable and non-modifiable risk factors, with no arrhythmia.
- Stage 2
- Pre-AF: structural or electrical findings that predispose to atrial fibrillation, still with no arrhythmia.
- Stage 3A
- Paroxysmal: intermittent, terminating within 7 days.
- Stage 3B
- Persistent: continuous beyond 7 days, requiring intervention to terminate.
- Stage 3C
- Long-standing persistent: continuous beyond 12 months, with rhythm control still being pursued.
- Stage 3D
- Successful ablation: free from atrial fibrillation after ablation or surgical intervention. Its own stage, not a return to stage 2.
- Stage 4
- Permanent: no further attempts at rhythm control.
- A decision, not a duration
- Permanent means the pursuit of rhythm control has been abandoned, at ANY duration. Staging on how long the AF has lasted closes off options the guideline leaves open.
- It starts before the arrhythmia
- Stages 1 and 2 describe patients with no atrial fibrillation, which is what makes prevention part of the classification rather than separate from it.
What you enter
- Risk factors for AF present
- Structural or electrical predisposing findings
- Atrial fibrillation documented
- Pattern
- Free from AF after ablation
- No further attempts at rhythm control
How this is calculated
Joglar JA, Chung MK, Armbruster AL, et al. 2023 ACC/AHA/ACCP/HRS Guideline for the Diagnosis and Management of Patients With Atrial Fibrillation. Circulation. 2024;149(1):e1-e156. Read the source ↗
A reference and educational tool. Not medical, legal, or financial advice, and not a substitute for clinician judgment.