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Article History

Received: 14 March 2019

Accepted: 27 June 2019

First Online: 12 July 2019

Ethics approval and consent to participate

: The study was approved by the institutional review boards and independent ethics committees for all participating centres. All participants provided written informed consent.

: Not applicable.

: Raffaele De Caterina co-authored ESC Guidelines on Atrial Fibrillation 2010–2012; acted as a Steering Committee member and National Coordinator for Italy, and co-authored manuscripts published on APPRAISE-2, ARISTOTLE, AVERROES, ENGAGE-AF and Re-DUAL PCI. RDC has received fees, honoraria and research funding from Sanofi-Aventis, Boehringer Ingelheim, Bayer, Bristol-Myers Squibb/Pfizer, Daiichi-Sankyo, Novartis, Portola, Roche and Merck.Peter Kelly has received speaker’s honoraria for lectures given at meetings sponsored by Daiichi-Sankyo. He is the Lead Investigator of the HRB Stroke Clinical Trials Network Ireland, which has received grant funding from the Irish government, Irish Heart Foundation, Daiichi Sankyo, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Pfizer, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Amgen and A Menarini.Pedro Monteiro is an ETNA-AF investigator, and has received lecture and research fees from Daiichi-Sankyo, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim and Pfizer/BMS.Jean Claude Deharo has received honoraria for lectures from Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim and Bristol-Myers Squibb. JCD has also received research grants from Boston Scientific, Sorin Group, Biotronik and Abbott.Carlo de Asmundis has received compensation for teaching purposes and proctoring from Medtronic, Abbott, Biotronik, Atricure, Cardiotek, Biosense Webster and research grants on behalf of the centre from Biotronik, Medtronic, St Jude Medical Abbot, Livanova, Boston Scientific Biosense Webster.Esteban López-de-Sá reports grants and non-financial support from ZOLL Medical Corporation, grants from Boehringer Ingelheim, grants, personal fees and non-financial support from Servier, personal fees and non-financial support from Daiichi Sankyo, personal fees and non-financial support from Rovi, personal fees from BARD, during the conduct of the study.Thomas W. Weiss has received fees, honoraria and research funding from Astra-Zeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, Bayer, Bristol-Myers Squibb/Pfizer, Daiichi-Sankyo, Medtronic, Menarini Pharma, Novartis and Sanofi-Aventis.Johannes Waltenberger reports personal fees from Bayer Vital, personal fees from Berlin Chemie, personal fees from Boehringer Ingelheim, personal fees from Daiichi Sankyo, personal fees from Sanofi Aventis, personal fees from Vifor Pharma Deutschland, during the conduct of the study.Jan Steffel has received consultant and / or speaker fees from Abbott, Amgen, Astra-Zeneca, Atricure, Bayer, Biosense Webster, Biotronik, Boehringer-Ingelheim, Boston Scientific, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Daiichi Sankyo, Medscape, Medtronic, Merck/MSD, Novartis, Pfizer, Sanofi-Aventis, WebMD, and Zoll. JS reports ownership of CorXL. JS has received grant support through his institution from Abbott, Bayer Healthcare, Biosense Webster, Biotronik, Boston Scientific, Daiichi Sankyo, and Medtronic.Joris R. de Groot received consultant and/or speaker fees from Servier, Daiichi Sankyo, AtriCure Inc., Bayer, Novartis and Itreas. JRdG received grant support through his institution from St Jude Medical/Abbott, Boston Scientific, Medtronic and AtriCure. JRdG reports ownership of RhythmCARE.Pierre Levy acts as a consultant for AbbVie, Actelion, Amgen, Astellas, Bayer, Biogen, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Boehringer Ingelheim, Daiichi-Sankyo, Eli Lilly, Gilead, GSK, Hospira, Impeto Médical, Janssen, MSD, Mundipharma, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Pfizer, Roche, Sanofi and Sanofi Pasteur MSD.Ameet Bakhai does not hold any stock but is involved in research sponsored by and is a member of advisory panels and speakers’ bureau for Daiichi Sankyo, Pfizer, BMS, Bayer and Boehringer Ingelheim.Wolfgang Zierhut, Petra Laeis, Michael Kerschnitzki and Paul-Egbert Reimitz are employees of Daiichi Sankyo Europe GmbH, Munich, Germany.Paulus Kirchhof receives research support from European Union, British Heart Foundation, Leducq Foundation, Medical Research Council (UK), and German Centre for Cardiovascular Research, from several drug and device companies active in atrial fibrillation, and has received honoraria from several such companies. PK is listed as inventor on two patents held by University of Birmingham (Atrial Fibrillation Therapy WO 2015140571, Markers for Atrial Fibrillation WO 2016012783).