Aims: Atrial fibrillation (AF) is generally regarded as a risk factor for dementia, though longitudinal studies assessing the association between AF and dementia have shown inconsistent results. This study aimed to determine the effect of AF on the risk of developing dementia using a longitudinal, community-based, and stroke-free elderly cohort. Methods and results: The association of incident AF with the development of incident dementia was assessed from 2005 to 2012 in 262 611 dementia- and stroke-free participants aged ≥60 years in the Korea National Health Insurance Service-Senior cohort. Incident AF was observed in 10 435 participants over an observational period of 1 629 903 person-years (0.64%/year). During the observational period, the incidence of dementia was 4.1 and 2.7 per 100 person-years in the incident AF and propensity score-matched AF-free groups, respectively. After adjustment, the risk of dementia was significantly increased by incident AF with a hazard ratio (HR) of 1.52 [95% confidence interval (CI) 1.43–1.63], even after censoring for stroke (1.27, 95% CI 1.18–1.37). Incident AF increased the risk of both Alzheimer (HR 1.31, 95% CI 1.20–1.43) and vascular dementia (HR 2.11, 95% CI 1.85–2.41). Among patients with incident AF, oral anticoagulant use was associated with a preventive effect on dementia development (HR 0.61, 95% CI 0.54–0.68), and an increasing CHA2DS2-VASc score was associated with a higher risk of dementia. Conclusion: Incident AF was associated with an increased risk of dementia, independent of clinical stroke in an elderly population. Oral anticoagulant use was linked with a decreased incidence of dementia.

Background An integrated care approach might be of benefit for clinical outcomes of patients with atrial fibrillation (AF). This study evaluated whether compliance with the Atrial fibrillation Better Care (ABC) pathway for integrated care management (“A” Avoid stroke; “B” Better symptom management; “C” Cardiovascular risk and Comorbidity optimization) would improve population-based clinical outcomes in a nationwide AF cohort. Methods and Results From the Korea National Health Insurance Service database, a total of 204,842 nonvalvular AF patients were enrolled between January 1, 2005 and December 31, 2015. Patients that fulfilled all criteria of the ABC pathway were defined as the “ABC” group, and those who did not were the “Non-ABC” group. Over a mean follow-up of 6.2 ± 3.5 years, the ABC pathway compliant group had lower rates of all-cause death (0.80 vs. 2.72 per 100 person-years, p < 0.001) and the composite outcome of “death, ischemic stroke, major bleeding, and myocardial infarction” (2.34 vs. 5.92 per 100 person-years, p < 0.001) compared with the Non-ABC compliant group. Adjusted Cox multivariable regression showed that the ABC group had a significantly lower risk of all-cause death (adjusted hazard ratio [HR] 0.82; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.78–0.86) and the composite outcome (adjusted HR 0.86; 95% CI, 0.83–0.89). With the increasing numbers of ABC pathway criteria fulfilled, the risk of all-cause death and composite outcome were progressively lowered. Conclusion In the first study of a nationwide population cohort, we show that compliance with the simple ABC pathway is associated with improved clinically relevant outcomes of patients with AF. Given the high health care burden associated with AF, such a streamlined holistic approach to AF management should be implemented, to improve the care of such patients. ^* The first two authors contributed equally to this work. ^** Joint senior authors. Note: The review process for this paper was fully handled by Christian Weber, Editor-in-Chief.