In the last two decades atrial fibrillation (AF) has become one of the most important public health problems and a significant cause of increasing healthcare costs in developed countries. The prevalence of AF is ever increasing, and at present, in Italy, it is twice higher (1.85%) than that reported in the past decade. In addition, the ratio of AF frequency among males and females in each age subgroup is always >1.2. In the real world, the commonest AF treatment strategy is "rate control" accounting for 51-56% of all AF patients. Anticoagulant therapy is still underused, in particular among several selected AF patient subgroups. The present findings suggest the need for improving AF patient management through ad hoc educational programs.