Targeting mitochondrial oxidative stress to prevent diabetes-induced atrial fibrillation.

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common progressive arrhythmia, which is associated with increased mortality, serious complications, high hospitalization rate (10-40% of AF patients annually) and high socioeconomic burden. Diabetes mellitus (DM), a highly prevalent chronic disorder, is a strong and independent risk factor for AF. AF occurs in 14.9% of DM patients and DM is associated with a 63% higher total mortality in AF patients.4-6 It is therefore crucial to prevent DM-induced AF. However, mechanisms underlying the association between DM and AF are unclear, hampering the development of interventions to prevent DM-induced AF. The overall aim is to study whether mitochondrial oxidative stress is a key causal factor for DM-induced AF and to find the molecular process involved in this causal relationship.