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The association of atrial fibrillation (AF) with stroke risk is well known, but whether AF is an independent risk factor for myocardial infarction (MI) is less clear. In this prospective cohort study, designed to assess disparities in stroke mortality, researchers identified nearly 24,000 participants (mean age, 64) without known coronary heart disease; about 1600 patients had chronic AF at baseline.
During a median 4.5 years of follow-up, the age-adjusted incidence of MI in patients with baseline AF was twice that in patients without AF (12 vs. 6 per 1000 person-years). In analyses adjusted for sociodemographic variables and coronary risk factors, MI incidence still was 70% higher in AF patients. Among AF patients, MI risk in women was almo…