Interesting article. I was diagnosed with AFib at 30. At 74 currently still working as a therapist. Based on yearly testing, still have all my "marbles". There is likely to be some other factors that can influence this as well. Genetics, self care, etc.

PracticeUpdate: [prac.co]

Such studies should be taken for what they're worth. Many 'studies' show that going short on sleep has all sorts of health implications, including dementia. My family are notoriously bad at getting more than six hours of sleep each night, and we've been doing it for years upon years. We have no more incidence of various age-related maladies than the general population. If I were to stick my neck out and propose that science has gotten one thing right, it would be that a failure to move one's mass over time is the single greatest predictor of early mortality. If you aren't active, walking at least three km each day, some of it at a good clip, you're likely to find yourself needing orthopedic intervention, endocrine intervention, cardiologist intervention, mental health intervention, dietician's intervention, etc, etc,

Many of those who are diagnosed at a younger age also have chronic fitness as a path to afib. Per gloaming's comment, many of these people have better overall health outcomes than those who are sedentary, despite their afib.

If you look at Table 1 from the actual study, note that the afibbers had materially higher hypertension, T2 diabetes (double the number), coronary heart disease (~4x), were 6 years older and so on. These alone could be part of the explanation.

That was not the case for me. I had no co morbidities at 30. Nada, nothing.