TY - JOUR
T1 - Cognitive dysfunction in atrial fibrillation
AU - Madhavan, Malini
AU - Graff-Radford, Jonathan
AU - Piccini, Jonathan P.
AU - Gersh, Bernard J.
N1 - Funding Information:
J.P.P. has received support from ARCA biopharma, Boston Scientific, GE Healthcare, and Johnson & Johnson/Janssen Scientific Affairs and from consultancies to Forest Laboratories, Janssen Scientific Affairs, Medtronic, Pfizer/Bristol Myers Squibb, and Spectranetics. B.J.G. receives modest support for consulting provided to Janssen Pharmaceuticals and Bristol-Myers Squibb. The other authors declare no competing interests.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2018, Springer Nature Limited.
PY - 2018/12/1
Y1 - 2018/12/1
N2 - Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common arrhythmia in adults, and its incidence and prevalence increase with age. The risk of cognitive impairment and dementia also increases with age, and both AF and cognitive impairment or dementia share important risk factors. In meta-analyses of published studies, AF is associated with a 2.4-fold and 1.4-fold increase in the risk of dementia in patients with or without a history of stroke, respectively. This association is independent of shared risk factors such as hypertension and diabetes mellitus. Neuroimaging has illustrated several potential mechanisms of cognitive decline in patients with AF. AF is associated with increased prevalence of silent cerebral infarcts, and more recent data also suggest an increased prevalence of cerebral microbleeds with AF. AF is also associated with a pro-inflammatory state, and the relationship between AF-induced systemic inflammation and dementia remains to be investigated. Preliminary reports indicate that anticoagulation medication including warfarin can reduce the risk of cognitive impairment in patients with AF. Catheter ablation, increasingly used to maintain sinus rhythm in patients with AF, is associated with the formation of new silent cerebral lesions. The majority of these lesions are not detectable after 1 year, and insufficient data are available to evaluate their effect on cognition. Large prospective studies are urgently needed to confirm the association between AF and dementia, to elucidate the associated mechanisms, and to investigate the effect of anticoagulation and rhythm control on cognition.
AB - Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common arrhythmia in adults, and its incidence and prevalence increase with age. The risk of cognitive impairment and dementia also increases with age, and both AF and cognitive impairment or dementia share important risk factors. In meta-analyses of published studies, AF is associated with a 2.4-fold and 1.4-fold increase in the risk of dementia in patients with or without a history of stroke, respectively. This association is independent of shared risk factors such as hypertension and diabetes mellitus. Neuroimaging has illustrated several potential mechanisms of cognitive decline in patients with AF. AF is associated with increased prevalence of silent cerebral infarcts, and more recent data also suggest an increased prevalence of cerebral microbleeds with AF. AF is also associated with a pro-inflammatory state, and the relationship between AF-induced systemic inflammation and dementia remains to be investigated. Preliminary reports indicate that anticoagulation medication including warfarin can reduce the risk of cognitive impairment in patients with AF. Catheter ablation, increasingly used to maintain sinus rhythm in patients with AF, is associated with the formation of new silent cerebral lesions. The majority of these lesions are not detectable after 1 year, and insufficient data are available to evaluate their effect on cognition. Large prospective studies are urgently needed to confirm the association between AF and dementia, to elucidate the associated mechanisms, and to investigate the effect of anticoagulation and rhythm control on cognition.
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U2 - 10.1038/s41569-018-0075-z
DO - 10.1038/s41569-018-0075-z
M3 - Review article
C2 - 30275499
AN - SCOPUS:85054372944
VL - 15
SP - 744
EP - 756
JO - Nature Reviews Cardiology
JF - Nature Reviews Cardiology
SN - 1759-5002
IS - 12
ER -