Prognosis

• a history of hypertension ^a
• previous TIA or stroke ^{a b}
• ischaemic heart disease ^{a b}  
• diabetes mellitus ^{a b}
• recent heart failure ^{a b}
• increasing age ^{a b}

• markers of LV dysfunction ^{a b}
• cardiomegaly ^b  

Why?

Hypertension, heart failure, ischaemic heart disease and previous strokes increase the risk of stroke

Patient	Prognostic Factor	Outcome	CER	RR (95% CI)	NNF+ (95% CI)
atrial fibrillation a	history of hypertension independent	stroke or systemic embolism at 1.5 years	4.4%	1.9 (1.0 to 3.9)	25 (8 to 23)
atrial fibrillation a	previous TIA or stroke independent	stroke at uncertain duration	-	2.5	-
atrial fibrillation	diabetes mellitus independent	stroke at uncertain duration	-	1.7	-
non-rheumatic AF and minor stroke b	ischaemic heart disease independent	stroke, TIA or major bleed at 2 years	22%	2.9 (1.4 to 5.9)	3 (1 to 14)
atrial fibrillation a	increasing age (per decade) independent	stroke at uncertain duration	-	1.4	-
atrial fibrillation a	LV dysfunction (including atrial diameter and overall function) not independent	stroke or systemic embolism at 2 years	3.3%	-	-
atrial fibrillation a	global LV dysfunction independent	stroke or systemic embolism at 2 years	6.0%	2.0 (1.0 to 4.0)	17 (6 to infinity)
atrial fibrillation	enlarged left atrial independent	stroke or systemic embolism at 2 years	3.9%	1.0 (1.0 to 2.5)	infinity (17 to infinity)
non-rheumatic AF and minor stroke b	cardiomegaly independent	stroke or systemic embolism at 2 years	-	1.4 (1.3 to 1.5)	14 (11 to 18)