Atrial fibrillation is the most common arrhythmia affecting patients today. Disease prevalence is increasing at an alarming rate worldwide, and is associated with often catastrophic and costly consequences, including heart failure, syncope, dementia, and stroke. Therapies including anticoagulants, anti-arrhythmic medications, devices, and non-pharmacologic procedures in the last 30 years have improved patients' functionality with the disease. Nonetheless, it remains imperative that further research into AF epidemiology, genetics, detection, and treatments continues to push forward rapidly as the worldwide population ages dramatically over the next 20 years.
Lotte Jacobs, Lutgarde Thijs, Yu Jin, Faiez Zannad, Alexandre Mebazaa, Philippe Rouet, Florence Pinet, Christophe Bauters, Burkert Pieske, Andreas Tomaschitz, Mamas Mamas, Javier Diez, Kenneth McDonald, John G F Cleland, Hans-Peter Brunner-La Rocca, Stephane Heymans, Roberto Latini, Serge Masson, Peter Sever, Christian Delles, Stuart Pocock, Timothy Collier, Tatiana Kuznetsova, Jan A Staessen, On behalf of the Heart ‘omics’ in AGEing (HOMAGE) investigators. Heart ‘omics’ in AGEing (HOMAGE): design, research objectives and characteristics of the common database[J]. The Journal of Biomedical Research, 2014, 28(5): 349-359. DOI: 10.7555/JBR.28.20140045