Effects of Rhythm Control versus Rate Control on Atrial Fibrillation and Frailty Development in Older Patients: Protocol for the Cardioversion of Atrial Fibrillation and Frailty in the Elderly (CAFFE) Study, an Observational, Prospective Cohort Study

Elisa Berni   ¹ , MSc ;   Veronica De Angelis   ² , MSc ;   Emanuele Santamaria   ¹ , MD ;   Alessandro Mengozzi   ³ , MD, PhD ;   Claudia Di Serio   ¹ , MSc, PhD ;   Giulia Spanalatte   ¹ , MD ;   Michele Biagioli   ¹ , MD ;   Arianna Tariello   ¹ , MD ;   Marta Niccolini   ¹ , MD ;   Camilla Cagnoni   ¹ , MD ;   Djullye Miduri Da Silva Nakano   ¹ , MD ;   Giada Alla Viligiardi   ¹ , MSc ;   Marco Capacci   ¹ , MD ;   Andrea Ungar   ¹ , MD, PhD ;   Giancarlo La Marca   ⁴ , MSc ;   Igor Diemberger   ² , MD, PhD ;   Agostino Virdis   ³ , MD ;   Stefano Fumagalli   ¹ , MD, PhD

¹ Department of Experimental and Clinical Medicine, University of Florence, Florence, Italy

² Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy

³ Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy

⁴ Department of Neuroscience and Medical Genetics, Newborn Screening, Clinical Biochemistry and Clinical Pharmacy Laboratory, Meyer Children's Hospital IRCCS, Florence, Department of Experimental and Clinical Biosciences, University of Florence, Florence, Italy