[Antiplatelet and anticoagulant therapy for stroke prevention in patients with non-valvular atrial fibrillation: evidence based strategies and new developments].

Atrial fibrillation is the most common sustained cardiac arrhythmia encountered in clinical practice, and since the prevalence is highly age-related, its public health impact in our aging societies is potentially enormous. Not only is our population aging, but the age-adjusted incidence and prevalence of atrial fibrillation is increasing, and these trends show no sign of abating. The prevalence of atrial fibrillation in the United States is approximately 2.3 million but this is likely a marked underestimation since many patients remain undiagnosed due to paroxysmal or asymptomatic disease or because of atypical symptoms. The underlying factors fueling this phenomenon are not well defined, but emerging trends in regard to increases in traditional and novel risk factors appear to play a prominent role, in particular, obesity and its associated comorbidities including type 2 diabetes, hypertension, and obstructive sleep apnea.