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Pardo et al. Vessel Plus 2022;6:36 https://dx.doi.org/10.20517/2574-1209.2021.120 Page 3 of 20

Figure 1. Hierarchal representation of our exclusion criteria for our article selection process. 71 w/ POAF definition in the highlighted box
are the articles that were used in our analysis.

4. American College of Surgeons (ACS) NSQIP [10]

All other Interventions (non-CT)

5. American College of Cardiology (ACC) [11]

6. American Heart Association (AHA) [11]

7. Heart Rhythm Society (HRS) [11,12]

8. American College of Chest Physicians (ACCP) [2,13]

9. Heart Failure Society of America (HFSA)

10. European Society of Cardiology (ESC) [1]

Other than the ESC [which published this guideline in collaboration with several listed United States (US)-
based societies], the focus was placed on US-based professional society guidelines and database definitions.
The latest guidelines and database definitions were identified for each society as of July 2021. All Society-
related manuscripts were found using a comprehensive literature search by analyzing all publications since
the VA’s definition of POAF was first published in 1991. Additionally, a thorough Mesh search (completed
as of May 28, 2021) included the following literature review search strategy:

(((“atrial fibrillation”[MeSH Terms]) OR (“atrial flutter”[MeSH Terms])) AND ((“cardiac surgical
procedures”[MeSH Terms]) or (“cardiology”[MeSH Terms]) or (“cardiac catheterization”[MeSH Terms])))
and (“definition” or “defined”)

This search resulted in 340 articles which were thoroughly analyzed for inclusion of working and stated
definition for POAF. [Figure 1] provides an overview of the process of inclusion, but only 21% (n = 71) of
these articles contained any POAF definition.