Figure 1.

Schematic illustration of the potential interactions between smoking and alcohol cardiovascular risk factors, atrial cardiomyopathy, and clinical outcomes. Hypothetically, smoking and alcohol might (a) directly contribute to these clinical events without the involvement of the atria or CVRF via pathways that are not yet understood; (b) the CVRF might contribute to the clinical outcomes without involvement of the atria; (c) the conditions such as hypertension might contribute to atrial cardiomyopathy as a mediator and ultimately lead to clinical outcomes; (d) directly affect atrial cardiomyopathy and thus facilitating clinical outcomes.