Life-style modification at the edge

We read with great interest a paper recently published by Kaw et al. in Chest investigating the association between sleep disordered breathing and post-operative atrial fibrillation (1). This is an important topic since approximately 1 in 3 patients will have atrial fibrillation post-cardiac surgery. Post-cardiac surgery atrial fibrillation (PCSAF) is associated with longer hospital stay, higher rates of stroke, and increased mortality (2,3). Post cardiac surgery atrial fibrillation is also the most common cause of rehospitalization after surgery and patients are five times more likely to develop atrial fibrillation in the future (4).