Early rhythm control is useful in patients with atrial fibrillation regardless of the AF pattern. Patients with first diagnosed atrial fibrillation benefit from early rhythm control therapy comparably to patients with paroxysmal or persistent AF. This is the result of a subgroup analysis of the EAST – AFNET 4 trial that was presented by Professor Andreas Goette, St. Vincenz Hospital Paderborn, at the American Heart Association (AHA) congress on 14.11.2021 in Boston [1].