Both atrial fibrillation (AF) and dementia have evolved into silent epidemics which convey significant health-related, societal and financial burden. The number of patients with AF are expected to increase by 150% during the next four decades [1], and the number of patients with dementia is expected to exceed 135 million during the next 30 years [2]. AF and dementia frequently coexist, however it remains unclear whether AF is causally associated with dementia, or a mediating factor explained by shared risk factors such as age, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, dyslipidemia, sleep apnea, ischaemic heart disease, heart failure, chronic kidney disease, obesity, physical inactivity, and excessive alcohol consumption [3].
