Atrial fibrillation and subsequent depression: evidence from a large real-world outpatient cohort

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is a prevalent chronic condition that contributes to cardiovascular morbidity, healthcare utilization, and impaired quality of life.1 Depression is highly prevalent among older adults and individuals with chronic disease and is associated with reduced adherence to medical therapy, increased healthcare utilization, and adverse clinical outcomes.2 Evidence on the occurrence of newly diagnosed depression following an AF diagnosis remains limited. Atrial fibrillation is frequently diagnosed in older, multimorbid individuals and typically requires long-term medical management, repeated clinical encounters, and chronic pharmacotherapy.1 These factors may increase psychological vulnerability and contribute to the development of depression over time. However, large population-based studies assessing the incidence of depression after AF in routine outpatient care are scarce. We therefore investigated the incidence of newly diagnosed depression following AF using a large, representative real-world outpatient database from Germany.3 This retrospective matched cohort study used data from the German Disease Analyzer database (IQVIA®), which contains anonymized longitudinal information on diagnoses and prescriptions from general practitioner and specialist practices and is broadly representative of outpatient care in Germany.3,4