After fully adjusting for demographics (age, sex), previous therapy (antiplatelet agents, antihypertensive agents, statin therapy) and risk factors (hypertension, diabetes mellitus, atrial fibrillation, smoking, previous stroke, previous myocardial infarction, previous peripheral artery disease, hyperlipidaemia), IL-6, sTNF-R1, fibrinogen, vWF, P-Selectin, D-dimer, NT-proBNP, hFABP, NSE and BDNF all remained predictive of death of any cause. The gene discussed is IL6; the disease is atrial fibrillation.