Risk of Death and Cardiovascular Events in Initially Healthy Women With New-Onset Atrial Fibrillation

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Abstract
Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common cardiac arrhythmia, and its prevalence is markedly increasing over time.1-3 Substantial evidence exists that the risk of stroke, congestive heart failure (CHF), and cognitive dysfunction is higher in patients with AF, underscoring the importance of AF as a public health problem.4-7 In addition, several studies involving mainly older individuals with and without cardiovascular disease found an increased risk of death in patients with AF.5,8-11 For example, among participants with new-onset AF in the Framingham Heart Study, the relative risk for mortality was 1.5 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.2-1.8) in men and 1.9 (95% CI, 1.5-2.2) in women.8 Most of this increased risk could be ascribed to individuals who died within 30 days after a first AF episode, suggesting that comorbidities with an elevated case-fatality rate explained a substantial part of the excess mortality in AF patients.8,11