SUMMARY The use of statins was significantly associated with a decreased risk of atrial fibrillation in patients with sinus rhythm .
PURPOSE OF REVIEW Whether statins may prevent  atrial fibrillation  remains a subject of debate .
Publication bias and clinical trials.
A study was performed to evaluate the extent to which the medical literature may be misleading as a result of selective publication of r and omized clinical trials ( RCTs ) with results showing a statistically significant treatment effect . Three hundred eighteen authors of published trials were asked whether they had participated in any unpublished RCTs .  The 156 respondents reported 271 unpublished and 1041 published trials . Of the 178 completed unpublished RCTs with a trend specified , 26 ( 14 % ) favored the new therapy compared to 423 of 767 ( 55 % ) published reports ( p less than 0.001 ) . For trials that were completed but not published , the major reasons for nonpublication were " negative " results and lack of interest . From the data provided , it appears that nonpublication was primarily a result of failure to write up and su bmi t the trial results rather than rejection of su bmi tted manuscripts . The results of this study imply the existence of a publication bias of importance both to meta- analysis and the interpretation of statistically significant positive trials
SUMMARY The use of statins was significantly associated with a decreased risk of atrial fibrillation in patients with sinus rhythm .
PURPOSE OF REVIEW Whether statins may prevent  atrial fibrillation  remains a subject of debate .