A method of detecting atrial fibrillation in an electrocardiogram

Disclosed herein are various embodiments of methods, systems and devices for detecting atrial fibrillation (AF) in a patient, preferably using a hand-held AF detection device for acquiring and analyzing the ECG, and making a determination of whether the patient has AF. The method of detecting AF comprises the steps of determining a plurality of sequentially-ordered R-R time intervals, selecting an R-R test interval (INT) from among the plurality of R-R time intervals, sequentially selecting the R-R time intervals and comparing same in an episode base rhythm state machine (134) to determine which of the selected R-R time intervals correspond to at least one of a predetermined number of non-atrial-fibrillation states, at least some of the non-atrial-fibrillation states requiring updating of INT when R-R time intervals are compared therein, and further determining which of the selected R-R time intervals correspond to a potential atrial fibrillation state, and generating, on the basis of the selected and compare