Limitations:
The most important limitation of our study is its single center and
crosssectional design and relatively small number of patients. Further
prospective studies with larger number of patients are needed on this
issue. Although speckle tracking echocardiography is considered angle
independent, echocardiographic image quality should be adequate to
perform an optimal analysis, as there is presently no software dedicated
for the evaluation of atrial. The another limitation of our study, some
asymptomatic patients may not have presented with AF during the 24-hour
period of Holter monitoring, our study may underrepresent the prevalence
of asymptomatic AF patients. Since the interval between initial
assessment follow up visits was relatively prolonged, this may lead to
underestimate atrial fibrillation that may develop.