PMC:99044 / 17319-18241 JSONTXT

{"project":"2_test","denotations":[{"id":"11897013-9737513-9155465","span":{"begin":160,"end":161},"obj":"9737513"},{"id":"11897013-10396667-9155466","span":{"begin":162,"end":164},"obj":"10396667"},{"id":"11897013-7780625-9155467","span":{"begin":165,"end":167},"obj":"7780625"},{"id":"11897013-9741514-9155468","span":{"begin":468,"end":469},"obj":"9741514"},{"id":"11897013-3285783-9155469","span":{"begin":625,"end":627},"obj":"3285783"}],"text":"In agreement with previous studies, we confirmed that the major risk factors for mortality in AF patients are old age, smoking and cardiovascular co-morbidity [2,10,14]. We identified the same risk factors and with a similar magnitude of risk when restricting the outcome to specific cardiovascular mortality. Another study found that the increased risk for all cause mortality in AF patients was largely due to an increased mortality risk due to ventricular failure [7]. In our study, we observed that half of all deaths were due to IHD and other cardiovascular diseases in the AF cohort. A previous review by Alpert et al [15] reported that the mortality risk was age dependent and presence of HF at the time of onset of AF was an important prognostic factor. In our study, we found that coexisting heart failure carried a two fold increased risk of all cause mortality and ischaemic heart disease a three fold increase."}