Incident atrial fibrillation in older Medicare beneficiaries carries a very high short-term mortality risk, with 25% of patients dying within one year.
Among older Medicare beneficiaries, incident AF is common and has remained relatively stable for more than a decade. Incident AF is associated with significant comorbidity and mortality; death occurs in one-quarter of beneficiaries within 1 year.
Piccini et al. (Sun,) studied this question.