TY - JOUR
T1 - Transforming atrial fibrillation management by targeting comorbidities and reducing atrial fibrillation burden
T2 - the 10th AFNET/EHRA consensus conference
AU - Svennberg, Emma
AU - Merino, Jose Luis
AU - Andrade, Jason
AU - Anselmino, Matteo
AU - Arbelo, Elena
AU - Boersma, Eric
AU - Boriani, Giuseppe
AU - Breithardt, Gunter
AU - Chung, Mina
AU - Chyou, Janice
AU - Cohen, Ariel
AU - Nielsen, Jens Cosedis
AU - Dichtl, Wolfgang
AU - Diederichsen, Soren Zoga
AU - Dobrev, Dobromir
AU - Doehner, Wolfram
AU - Dworatzek, Elke
AU - Fabritz, Larissa
AU - Filgueiras-Rama, David
AU - Gimpelewicz, Claudio
AU - Hack, Guido
AU - Hatem, Stephane
AU - Healey, Jeff
AU - Heidbuchel, Hein
AU - Hijazi, Ziad
AU - Holst, Anders Gaarsdal
AU - Hove-Madsen, Leif
AU - Jalife, Jose
AU - van Leerdam, Roderick
AU - Linz, Dominik
AU - Lip, Gregory Y. H.
AU - Lubitz, Steven
AU - de Melis, Mirko
AU - Meyer, Ralf
AU - Orczykowski, Michal
AU - Parwani, Abdul Shokor
AU - Porta-Sanchez, Andreu
AU - de Potter, Tom
AU - Ravens, Ursula
AU - Rienstra, Michiel
AU - Rillig, Andreas
AU - Rivard, Lena
AU - Scherr, Daniel
AU - Schnabel, Renate B.
AU - Schotten, Ulrich
AU - Simovic, Stefan
AU - Sinner, Moritz
AU - Sohns, Christian
AU - Sommer, Philipp
AU - Steinbeck, Gerhard
AU - Et al.
PY - 2025/12/1
Y1 - 2025/12/1
N2 - Atrial fibrillation (AF) is a growing unmet medical need. To reduce its impact on patients' lives, improvements in stroke prevention therapy, treatment of concomitant conditions, and rhythm control therapy are actively developed: Innovations in anti-thrombotic agents, new anti-arrhythmic drugs (AADs), and novel interventional rhythm control therapies emerge alongside AF-reducing effects of general cardiometabolic therapies. Simple risk scores are slowly replaced by personalized AF risk estimation using quantifiable features. These developments were discussed by over 80 experts from academia and industry during the 10th Atrial Fibrillation NETwork /European Heart Rhythm Association consensus conference from 5 to 7 May 2025. The emerging consensus, described here, is multi-domain therapy combining stroke prevention, rhythm control, and therapy of concomitant cardiovascular conditions. This combines anti-coagulants, AADs, and AF ablation with old and new cardiometabolic drugs that can reduce AF risk, AF burden, and AF-related complications at scale. The paper furthermore describes quantitative traits that may enable a shift towards risk-driven therapy based on AF phenotypes. These can enable adjusted therapy strategies that are safe, accessible, and patient-centred. Applying modern data science and artificial intelligence methods to quantitative phenotypic and genetic features can further improve risk estimation and personalized therapy selection. At the same time, translational and clinical research into reversing the drivers of AF and into improved stroke prevention through new drugs and through combination therapies is needed. Together, these efforts offer pathways towards personalized, patient-centred, multi-modal, and accessible AF management that integrates rhythm control, stroke prevention, and therapy of concomitant conditions to bridge today's practical needs with tomorrow's therapeutic innovation.
AB - Atrial fibrillation (AF) is a growing unmet medical need. To reduce its impact on patients' lives, improvements in stroke prevention therapy, treatment of concomitant conditions, and rhythm control therapy are actively developed: Innovations in anti-thrombotic agents, new anti-arrhythmic drugs (AADs), and novel interventional rhythm control therapies emerge alongside AF-reducing effects of general cardiometabolic therapies. Simple risk scores are slowly replaced by personalized AF risk estimation using quantifiable features. These developments were discussed by over 80 experts from academia and industry during the 10th Atrial Fibrillation NETwork /European Heart Rhythm Association consensus conference from 5 to 7 May 2025. The emerging consensus, described here, is multi-domain therapy combining stroke prevention, rhythm control, and therapy of concomitant cardiovascular conditions. This combines anti-coagulants, AADs, and AF ablation with old and new cardiometabolic drugs that can reduce AF risk, AF burden, and AF-related complications at scale. The paper furthermore describes quantitative traits that may enable a shift towards risk-driven therapy based on AF phenotypes. These can enable adjusted therapy strategies that are safe, accessible, and patient-centred. Applying modern data science and artificial intelligence methods to quantitative phenotypic and genetic features can further improve risk estimation and personalized therapy selection. At the same time, translational and clinical research into reversing the drivers of AF and into improved stroke prevention through new drugs and through combination therapies is needed. Together, these efforts offer pathways towards personalized, patient-centred, multi-modal, and accessible AF management that integrates rhythm control, stroke prevention, and therapy of concomitant conditions to bridge today's practical needs with tomorrow's therapeutic innovation.
KW - Atrial fibrillation
KW - Rhythm control
KW - Stroke prevention
KW - Ablation
KW - Atrial fibrillation burden
KW - Heart failure
KW - Antiarrhythmic drugs
KW - Artificial intelligence
KW - Integrated care
KW - MONTREAL COGNITIVE ASSESSMENT
KW - CATHETER ABLATION
KW - HEART-FAILURE
KW - ELECTRICAL CARDIOVERSION
KW - CARDIOVASCULAR EVENTS
KW - CLINICAL-PRACTICE
KW - LESS DEMENTIA
KW - STROKE RISK
KW - LONG-TERM
KW - ASSOCIATION
U2 - 10.1093/europace/euaf318
DO - 10.1093/europace/euaf318
M3 - Article
SN - 1099-5129
VL - 27
JO - EP Europace
JF - EP Europace
IS - 12
M1 - euaf318
ER -