How Inevitable Is Atrial Fibrillation?

Data from the Framingham Heart Study show that lifetime risks for AF increase as risk factor burden worsens.

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is highly prevalent in our aging society and is an independent predictor of morbidity and mortality. Investigators used data from 5338 participants from the Framingham Heart Study to determine the association between risk factor burden (categorized as optimal, borderline, or elevated) and lifetime AF risk.

Participants were included at index ages of 55, 65, or 75 and followed up to age 95. The study assessed several known risk factors for AF — blood pressure, smoking, alcohol consumption, body-mass index, diabetes, and history of heart failure or myocardial infarction.

In analyses accounting for competing causes of death, the overall lifetime risk for AF was 37% for index age 55 but dropped to 23% among participants w…

Reviewing Author

Fatima Rodriguez, MD, MPH

Disclosures

Consultant/Advisory BoardNovoNordisk; HealthPals; Novartis; Amgen

EquityHealthPals; Carta

Grant/Research SupportNational Institutes of Health/National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute; American Heart Association–Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

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