Recent clinical trials in atrial fibrillation in hypertensive patients.

Atrial Fibrillation (AF) is the most common clinically significant sustained cardiac arrhythmia, and Hypertension (HTN) is the most common cardiovascular disorder. AF is a major risk factor for strokes whether it is symptomatic or silent. Recent publications have shed light on the role of antihypertensive regiments in prevention of AF, while others have provided data on the efficacy and safety of novel antiarrhythmic drugs such as dronedarone and vernakalant. The older CHADS(2) score and its more refined modern counterparts are well validated to determine stroke risk and guide antithrombotic therapy, but haemorrhagic risk has to be respected as well, and scores such as HAS-BLED should be widely used. Novel classes of anticoagulants that overcome many of the drawbacks of warfarin have been introduced with promising results and pose new questions that need to be answered in the near future.