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Copyright ©The Author(s) 2016. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Cardiol. Mar 26, 2016; 8(3): 267-276
Published online Mar 26, 2016. doi: 10.4330/wjc.v8.i3.267
Prediction of atrial fibrillation development and progression: Current perspectives
Konstantinos Vlachos, Konstantinos P Letsas, Panagiotis Korantzopoulos, Tong Liu, Stamatis Georgopoulos, Athanasios Bakalakos, Nikolaos Karamichalakis, Sotirios Xydonas, Michael Efremidis, Antonios Sideris
Konstantinos Vlachos, Konstantinos P Letsas, Stamatis Georgopoulos, Athanasios Bakalakos, Nikolaos Karamichalakis, Sotirios Xydonas, Michael Efremidis, Antonios Sideris, Second Department of Cardiology, Laboratory of Cardiac Electrophysiology, “Evangelismos” General Hospital of Athens, 10676 Athens, Greece
Panagiotis Korantzopoulos, First Department of Cardiology, University Hospital of Ioannina, 45110 Ioannina, Greece
Tong Liu, Tianjin Key Laboratory of Ionic-Molecular Function of Cardiovascular Disease, Department of Cardiology, Tianjin Institute of Cardiology, Second Hospital of Tianjin Medical University, Tianjin 300211, China
Author contributions: Vlachos K and Georgopoulos S wrote the paper; Vlachos K and Xydonas S performed research; Letsas KP, Korantzopoulos P, Liu T, Bakalakos A, Karamichalakis N, Efremidis M and Sideris A designed research, and performed research; all authors read and approved the final version of the manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: None to declare.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Konstantinos P Letsas, MD, FESC, Second Department of Cardiology, Laboratory of Cardiac Electrophysiology, “Evangelismos” General Hospital of Athens, 45-47 Ipsilantou Street, 10676 Athens, Greece. k.letsas@gmail.com
Telephone: +30-210-7201466 Fax: +30-213-2041344
Received: June 4, 2015
Peer-review started: June 4, 2015
First decision: August 6, 2015
Revised: December 16, 2015
Accepted: January 5, 2016
Article in press: January 7, 2016
Published online: March 26, 2016
Processing time: 292 Days and 10.5 Hours
Core Tip

Core tip: Atrial fibrillation (AF) is a progressive disease associated with increased morbidity and mortality. Prevention of arrhythmia progression is therefore of paramount importance. An intense rhythm control strategy will prevent structural and electrical remodelling. The modification of common risk factors of AF development and progression such as hypertension, obesity, and sleep apnoea should be additionally considered. Emerging risk factors such as inflammation and fibrosis will guide the therapeutic approach in the future.