1 Atrial fibrillation is associated with cognitive decline in 1 stroke-free subjects: The Tromsø Study 2 Sweta Tiwari, MPH 1 , Maja-Lisa Løchen, MD, PhD 1 , Bjarne K. Jacobsen, PhD 1 , Laila A. 3 Hopstock, MScN, PhD 1, 2 , Audhild Nyrnes, MD, PhD 3 , Inger Njølstad, MD, PhD 1 , Ellisiv B. 4 Mathiesen, MD, PhD 4,5 , Kjell A. Arntzen, MD, PhD 4 , Jocasta Ball, PhD 6 , Simon Stewart, PhD 7 , 5 Tom Wilsgaard, PhD 1 , Henrik Schirmer, MD, PhD 4,8 6 7 1 Department of Community Medicine, UiT The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway 8 2 Department of Health and Care Sciences, UiT The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, 9 Norway 10 3 Department of Geriatric Medicine, University Hospital of North Norway, Tromsø, Norway 11 4 Department of Clinical Medicine, UiT The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway 12 5 Department of Neurology and Neurophysiology, University Hospital of North Norway, Tromsø, 13 Norway 14 6 Pre-Clinical Disease and Prevention, Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute, Melbourne, Australia 15 7 Mary MacKillop Institute for Health Research, Australian Catholic University, Melbourne, 16 Australia 17