Background: The control of diseases related to atrial fibrillation (AF) may reduce the occurrence of AF, delay progression, and reduce complications, which is beneficial to the prevention and treatment of AF. An increasing number of studies have shown that AF is associated with depression. However, to date, there has not been a bibliometric analysis to examine this field systematically. Our study aimed to visualize the publications to determine the hotspots and frontiers in research on AF and depression and provide guidance and reference for further study. Methods: Publications about AF and depression between 2001 and 2021 were retrieved from the Web of Science Core Collection (WOSCC) database. CiteSpace 5.8. R1, VOSviewer 1.6.16, and Excel 2019 software tools were used to conduct this bibliometric study. Results: In total, 159 articles and reviews were analyzed. The number of publications has been increased sharply since 2018. David D. McManus had the largest number of publications. The most prolific country was the USA with 54 publications but the centrality was <0.1. The most prolific institution was Northeastern University. Three clusters were formed based on keywords: The first cluster was composed of atrial fibrillation, depression, anxiety, symptoms, ablation, and quality of life, et al. The second cluster were risk, prevalence, mortality, heart failure, association, et al. While the third cluster included anticoagulation, impact, stroke, management, warfarin, et al. After 2019, stroke and prediction are the keywords with strongest citation bursts. Conclusion: Research on AF and depression is in its infancy. Cooperation and exchanges between countries and institutions must be strengthened in the future. The effect of depression on prevalence and mortality in AF, depression on ablation in AF, and impact of depression on anticoagulation treatment in AF have been the focus of current research. Stroke prevention (including anticoagulant therapy) is the research frontier, which may still be the focus of research in the future.

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is a common clinical arrhythmia whose pathogenesis has not been fully elucidated, and the inflammatory response plays an important role in the development of AF. The inflammasome is an important component of innate immunity and is involved in a variety of pathophysiologic processes. The NLRP3 inflammasome is by far the best studied and validated inflammasome that recognizes multiple pathogens through pattern recognition receptors of innate immunity and mediates inflammatory responses through activation of Caspase-1. Several studies have shown that NLRP3 inflammasome activation contributes to the onset and development of AF. Ecological dysregulation of the gut microbiota has been associated with the development of AF, and some evidence suggests that gut microbiota components, functional byproducts, or metabolites may induce or exacerbate the development of AF by directly or indirectly modulating the NLRP3 inflammasome. In this review, we report on the interconnection of NLRP3 inflammasomes and gut microbiota and whether this association is related to the onset and persistence of AF. We discuss the potential value of pharmacological and dietary induction in the management of AF in the context of the association between the NLRP3 inflammasome and gut microbiota. It is hoped that this review will lead to new therapeutic targets for the future management of AF.

Paroxysmal atrial fibrillation (AF) combined with obstructive sleep apnea hypopnea syndrome (OSAHS) is very common in clinical practice. Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) rule of regulating the liver based on psycho-cardiology shows satisfactory effectiveness in the treatment of paroxysmal AF combined with OSAHS. However, its underlying pharmacological mechanism has not yet been elucidated. This study applied network pharmacology to identify 94 active components in the six TCM liver-regulating herbs and 182 corresponding targets from several databases and comprehensive literature studies, as well as retrieved AF combined with OSAHS-related targets. Cytoscape software was adopted to construct the component-component target network and component-putative target-AF combined with OSAHS target network. Then, we obtained 38 putative therapeutic targets against AF combined with OSAHS. After the production of a putative therapeutic target interaction network, topological analysis was adopted to determine the core targets of TCM liver-regulating herbs in the treatment of paroxysmal AF combined with OSAHS. For all putative therapeutic targets, biological process analysis and pathway enrichment analysis were utilized to investigate the possible mechanism of TCM liver-regulating herbs in the treatment of paroxysmal AF combined with OSAHS. Mechanistically, it included positive regulation of nitric oxide biosynthetic process, aging, response to hypoxia, TNF signaling pathway, HIF-1 signaling pathway, PI3K-Akt signaling pathway, neuroactive ligand-receptor interaction, and calcium signaling pathway. Especially, six core targets of TCM liver-regulating herbs, namely, TNF, STAT3, AKT1, IL-6, TP53, and INS, were significant in the regulation of the above biological processes and pathways. This study demonstrates the multicomponent, multitarget, and multipathway feature of TCM liver-regulating herbs, provides an extensional foundation for further research, and facilitates the reasonable application of TCM liver-regulating herbs in treating paroxysmal AF combined with OSAHS.

Background: Depression is an independent factor to predict the hospitalization and mortality in the chronic HF patients. Citalopram is known as an effective drug for depression treatment. Currently, there is no specific recommendation in the HF guidelines for the treatment of psychological comorbidity. In recent years, many studies have shown that the citalopram may be safe in treating of chronic HF with depression.Objective: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of the citalopram in the treatment of elderly chronic HF combined with depression.Methods: PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane, Web of Science, CNKI, VIP, CBM, and Wanfang were searched from their inception to May 2022. In the treatment of elderly chronic HF combined with depression, randomized controlled studies of the citalopram were included. Independent screening and extraction of data information were conducted by two researchers, and the quality was assessed by the Cochrane bias risk assessment tool. Review manager 5.4.1 was employed for statistical analysis.Results: The results of meta-analysis prove that the citalopram treatment for depressed patients with chronic HF has a benefit for HAMD-24 (MD: −8.51, 95% CI: −10.15 to −6.88) and LVEF (MD: 2.42, 95% CI: 0.51 to 4.33). Moreover, the score of GDS decreases, and NT-proBNP (MD: −537.78, 95% CI: −718.03 to −357.54) is improved. However, the comparison with the control group indicates that there is no good effect on HAMD-17 (MD: −5.14, 95% CI: −11.60 to 1.32), MADRS (MD: −1.57, 95% CI: −3.47 to 0.32) and LVEDD (MD: −1.45, 95% CI: −3.65 to −0.76). No obvious adverse drug reactions were observed.Conclusion: Citalopram treatment for depressed patients with chronic HF has a positive effect on LVEF and NT-proBNP. It can alleviate HAMD-24 and GDS, but the relative benefits for LVEDD, HAMD-17 and MADRS still need to be verified.Systematic Review Registration: PROSPERO [CRD42021289917].

Background: Notwithstanding the acknowledged interplay between atrial fibrillation (AF) and the emergence of digestive system neoplasms, the intricacies of this relationship remain ambiguous. By capitalizing univariable Mendelian Randomization (MR) complemented by a mediated MR tactic, our pursuit was to elucidate the causative roles of AF in precipitating digestive system malignancies and potential intermediary pathways.Method: This research endeavor seeks to scrutinize the causal clinical implications of whether genetic predispositions to AF correlate with an increased risk of digestive system malignancies, employing MR analytical techniques. Utilizing a dataset amalgamated from six studies related to AF, encompassing over 1,000,000 subjects, we performed univariable MR assessments, employing the random-effects inverse-variance weighted (IVW) methodology as our principal analytical paradigm. Subsequently, a mediated MR framework was employed to probe the potential mediating influence of AF on the nexus between hypertension (HT), heart failure (HF), ischemic stroke (IS), coronary artery disease (CAD), and digestive system neoplasms.Result: The univariable MR evaluation unveiled a notable causal nexus between the genetic inclination toward AF and the genetic susceptibility to colon, esophageal, and small intestine malignancies. The mediated MR scrutiny ascertained that the genetic inclination for AF amplifies the risk profile for colon cancer via IS pathways and partially explains the susceptibility to esophageal and small intestine tumors through the HF pathway.Conclusion: Our investigative endeavor has highlighted a definitive causative association between genetic inclination to AF and specific digestive system neoplasms, spotlighting IS and HF as instrumental mediators. Such revelations furnish pivotal perspectives on the complex genetic interconnections between cardiovascular anomalies and certain digestive tract tumors, emphasizing prospective therapeutic and diagnostic worthy of pursuit.

Background: Previous studies have indicated that blood lipids can influence skeletal health. However, limited research exists on the impact of serum apolipoprotein B (ApoB) on bone mineral density (BMD); meanwhile, it remains unclear to what extent cardiovascular disease plays in mediating this process. Methods: Therefore, we conducted a cross-sectional analysis involving 2930 participants from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) database to explore the relationship between serum ApoB and total body BMD (TB-BMD) and lumbar spine BMD (LS-BMD). We employed a two-step, two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis using genetic instruments to investigate causality and assess the mediating effects of six cardiovascular diseases. Results: Multivariable linear regression models demonstrated an inverse linear association between serum ApoB and TB-BMD (β = –0.26, 95% confidence interval (CI): –0.41 to –0.12, p < 0.001; p for non-linearity = 0.771) and LS-BMD (β = –0.53, 95% CI: –0.75 to –0.31, p < 0.001; p for non-linearity = 0.164). The primary analysis utilized the multiplicative random effects inverse variance weighted (IVW-MRE) method for the two-sample MR analysis. The results demonstrated a causal relationship between serum ApoB with TB-BMD (β = –0.0424, 95% CI: –0.0746 to –0.0103; p = 0.0096) and LS-BMD (β = –0.0806, 95% CI: –0.1384 to –0.0229; p = 0.0062). The two-step MR analysis indicated heart failure as a mediating factor in the causal relationship between serum ApoB and TB-BMD, with a mediation proportion of 18.69%. Conclusions: The results of this study support that lowering serum ApoB levels could enhance BMD while preventing the occurrence of heart failure might reduce the harm caused by the decrease in BMD due to elevated ApoB levels.