The association of atrial fibrillation and dementia incidence: a meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies.

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: To assess and synthesize the prospective cohort studies published so far on the association between atrial fibrillation (AF) and dementia incidence. METHODS: test and funnel plot, respectively. RESULTS: test and funnel plot, we did not detect obvious heterogeneity and publication bias in our study. Meta-regression on age did not find significant results. CONCLUSIONS: The results of our meta-analysis further confirmed that AF was an independent risk factor for dementia in patients with normal baseline cognitive function not suffering from acute stroke. Screening for dementia in AF patients and including dementia as an independent outcome in large AF treatment trials is warranted.