Editorial Comment:Left ventricular diastolic dysfunction: a new foe in the management of atrial fibrillation?

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common sustained arrhythmia in clinical practice and in public health, and its prevalence and incidence is increasing globally. In total, 33.5 million individuals, or 0.5% of the world’s population have AF, and this “global epidemic” have a profound impact not only on individual disability and mortality but also on the global health care economy. The recent analysis of Global Burden of Disease (GBD) database revealed that a small increase in AF prevalence and a significant increase in the overall incidence of AF from 1990 to 2010 (1). The estimated AF prevalence rate per 100 000 individuals was 569.5 in males and 359.9 in females in 1990, and it increased to 596.2 in males and 373.1 in females in 2010.