An editorial notes that approximately 2% of individuals in the general population have AF with the anticipation that numbers will increase substantially in future decades with predictions of greater life expectancy. The authors suggest that the consequence(s) of the increased prevalence and frequency will ultimately depend on the effectiveness of AF detection and implementation of preventative measures with anticoagulants, in addition to more extreme measures involving surgical/interventional pulmonary vein isolation through electrical ablation and/or mechanical occlusion. They call for further research to investigate what factors may be contributing to the increasing trends in AF incidence and prevalence and particularly its role in acute myocardial infarction in the absence of coronary disease.