Tattersall MC, Dasiewicz AS, McClelland RL, et al. - Given that asthma and atrial fibrillation (AF) share an underlying inflammatory pathophysiology, researchers investigated whether persistent asthmatics are at increased risk for developing AF. They also examined whether this relationship may be attenuated by adjustment for baseline markers of systemic inflammation. The study sample consisted of 6,615 participants. At exam 1, the presence of asthma was determined, wherein persistent asthma was defined as requiring the use of controller medications, and intermittent asthma was defined as asthma without the use of these medications. Follow up was done for a median of 12.9 (IQR: 10-13.6) years for incident AF. Overall, the researchers noted an increased risk for incident AF in correlation with persistent asthma. Adjustment for baseline inflammatory biomarkers did not attenuate this association.