Atrial Fibrillation continues to increase in prevalence and its’ consequences and disease associations have a great impact on multiple aspects of medical practice. As such, making preventive strategies to minimize risk of the arrhythmia and its’ complications are paramount to improve quality of life, mortality, and limit medical resource utilization. To the extent that AF independently impacts adverse cardiovascular outcomes, this review article will focus on these outcomes, in particular heart failure, stroke, and mortality, and discuss contemporary strategies for treatment.