Bassand, Jean-PierreAccetta, GabrieleCamm, Alan JohnCools, FrankFitzmaurice, David A.Fox, Keith A.A.Goldhaber, SamuelGoto, ShinyaHaas, SylviaHacke, WernerKayani, GloriaMantovani, Lorenzo G.Misselwitz, Frankten Cate, HugoTurpie, Alexander G.G.Verheugt, Freek W.A.Kakkar, Ajay K.2016-11-182016Bassand, J., G. Accetta, A. J. Camm, F. Cools, D. A. Fitzmaurice, K. A. Fox, S. Z. Goldhaber, et al. 2016. “Two-year outcomes of patients with newly diagnosed atrial fibrillation: results from GARFIELD-AF.” European Heart Journal 37 (38): 2882-2889. doi:10.1093/eurheartj/ehw233. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/eurheartj/ehw233.0195-668Xhttp://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:29408214Aims The relationship between outcomes and time after diagnosis for patients with non-valvular atrial fibrillation (NVAF) is poorly defined, especially beyond the first year. Methods and results GARFIELD-AF is an ongoing, global observational study of adults with newly diagnosed NVAF. Two-year outcomes of 17 162 patients prospectively enrolled in GARFIELD-AF were analysed in light of baseline characteristics, risk profiles for stroke/systemic embolism (SE), and antithrombotic therapy. The mean (standard deviation) age was 69.8 (11.4) years, 43.8% were women, and the mean CHA2DS2-VASc score was 3.3 (1.6); 60.8% of patients were prescribed anticoagulant therapy with/without antiplatelet (AP) therapy, 27.4% AP monotherapy, and 11.8% no antithrombotic therapy. At 2-year follow-up, all-cause mortality, stroke/SE, and major bleeding had occurred at a rate (95% confidence interval) of 3.83 (3.62; 4.05), 1.25 (1.13; 1.38), and 0.70 (0.62; 0.81) per 100 person-years, respectively. Rates for all three major events were highest during the first 4 months. Congestive heart failure, acute coronary syndromes, sudden/unwitnessed death, malignancy, respiratory failure, and infection/sepsis accounted for 65% of all known causes of death and strokes for <10%. Anticoagulant treatment was associated with a 35% lower risk of death. Conclusion: The most frequent of the three major outcome measures was death, whose most common causes are not known to be significantly influenced by anticoagulation. This suggests that a more comprehensive approach to the management of NVAF may be needed to improve outcome. This could include, in addition to anticoagulation, interventions targeting modifiable, cause-specific risk factors for death. Clinical Trial Registration http://www.clinicaltrials.gov. Unique identifier: NCT01090362.en-USAtrial fibrillationAnticoagulationStroke preventionStrokeBleedingJournal Article2016-11-1810.1093/eurheartj/ehw233