FRIDAY, May 15 (HealthDay News) -- Atrial fibrillation is associated with all types of dementia and is an independent risk factor for mortality in patients with the neurological condition, according to a study presented this week at the annual meeting of the Heart Rhythm Society, held from May 13 to 16 in Boston.

T. Jared Bunch, M.D., of the Intermountain Medical Center in Murray, Utah, and colleagues analyzed data from 37,025 patients from the Intermountain Heart Collaborative Study database. The patients had a mean age of 60.6 years and were followed up for a mean five years for atrial fibrillation and dementia.

Atrial fibrillation was diagnosed in 10,161 (27 percent) of the patients, and 1,535 (4.1 percent) of them developed dementia, the researchers found. Among the dementia patients, 179 had vascular dementia, 321 had senile dementia, 347 had Alzheimer's disease, and 688 had non-specified dementia. Atrial fibrillation was significantly associated with all types, the investigators discovered. It was also associated with an increased risk of mortality for all types of dementia.

"There are many potential intriguing mechanisms that may explain these observations. One is that atrial fibrillation and dementia may be both due to early vascular disease from central hypertension or microvascular dysfunction," the authors write. "Those patients with atrial fibrillation with underlying comprised vascular/microvascular dysfunction may be more likely to have cerebral perfusion dysfunction and manifest dementia earlier. Patients with atrial fibrillation are more likely to develop heart failure, both systolic and diastolic, which may serve as a distinct mechanism underlying reduced cerebral perfusion."

Several study authors reported financial relationships with Boston Scientific.

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