Sairenchi T, Yamagishi K, Iso H, et al. - Researchers focused on the age-specific influence of atrial fibrillation (AF) on cardiovascular diseases in this study including participants (n = 90,629) who were followed up as part of the Ibaraki Prefectural Health Study. They used Cox's proportional hazards regression models to calculate hazard ratios for mortality stratified by gender and age groups. The follow-up of participants revealed the death of overall 22,794 patients (11,329 men and 11,465 women), including 6,684 deaths attributable to cardiovascular causes (2,951 men and 3,733 women). Findings revealed a significant association of AF with all-cause mortality in each age and gender group; again, hazard ratios did not significantly differ between the age groups in terms of AF. Experts concluded that AF may independently confer risk for cardiovascular and all-cause mortalities, irrespective of age.