TY - JOUR T1 - Invited commentary—global arrhythmia burden: The public health implications of the rise in atrial fibrillation comment on “the increasing burden of atrial fibrillation compared with heart failure and myocardial infarction” AU - Deo R, Varosy PD Y1 - 2012/05/14 N1 - 10.1001/archinternmed.2012.1294 JO - Archives of Internal Medicine SP - 741 EP - 742 VL - 172 IS - 9 N2 - Several recent studies have noted a rise in the prevalence and incidence of atrial fibrillation (AF). The population burden of AF is expected to double over the next 40 years and will likely affect between 6 to 12 million Americans by 2050.1- 3 In this issue of the Archives, Wong and colleagues4 confirm that this phenomenon is not limited to the United States. Using administrative data, these investigators demonstrate that the number of hospitalizations for AF in Australia tripled over a 15-year period between 1993 and 2007. In comparison, the number of hospitalizations for myocardial infarction and heart failure increased only modestly during this time. SN - 0003-9926 M3 - doi: 10.1001/archinternmed.2012.1294 UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1001/archinternmed.2012.1294 ER -