Causes of death in atrial fibrillation: Challenges and opportunities

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is an age-related arrhythmia associated with several co-morbidities and significant mortality. Most AF patients are in need of anticoagulation due to increased risk of stroke. Despite anticoagulation, AF patients still have a significant risk of death (about 5%/y). Approximately half of deaths in AF are due to heart-related causes (i.e., sudden death, heart failure, and myocardial infarction), one-third of deaths are due to non-vascular causes (i.e., cancer, respiratory diseases, and infections) and the remaining AF patients die from stroke or hemorrhage (about 6% each), or other causes. This review describes current situations related to causes of death in AF, the challenges in the management of AF (e.g., frequent presence of cardiovascular risk factors and co-morbidities, physicians adherence to clinical guidelines and patients adherence to cardiovascular medications in AF) as well as the opportunities for intervention.