A trial fibrillation and heart failure are both common conditions and often coexist. The prevalence of each is expected to increase as the population ages1 ; estimates indicate that by the year 2030 the prevalence of heart failure will be more than 8 million adults,2  and the prevalence of atrial fibrillation will climb to 12.1 million persons.3  Nurses working in acute and critical care settings frequently care for patients with both heart failure and atrial fibrillation. This column provides insights into the relationships between heart failure and atrial fibrillation, adverse outcomes that occur when atrial fibrillation and heart failure coexist, and the most current evidence for the treatment of atrial fibrillation in patients with heart failure.

Multiple relationships exist between heart failure and atrial fibrillation, including shared risk factors, the causation of one by the other, and adverse events that occur when the 2 coexist. Atrial fibrillation...

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