Cookies on this website

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you click 'Accept all cookies' we'll assume that you are happy to receive all cookies and you won't see this message again. If you click 'Reject all non-essential cookies' only necessary cookies providing core functionality such as security, network management, and accessibility will be enabled. Click 'Find out more' for information on how to change your cookie settings.

<jats:sec><jats:title>Background</jats:title><jats:p>Atrial fibrillation (AF) is a stronger risk factor for cardiovascular disease in women than men. We assessed whether there are sex differences in the effects of 43 established and novel risk factors and the risk of incident AF.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Methods</jats:title><jats:p>Data were used from the Scottish Heart Health Extended Cohort, a prospective cohort study with over 20 years of follow-up for AF incidence. Cox regression models were used to obtain the adjusted sex-specific HRs and 95% CIs, and the women-to-men ratio of HRs (RHRs), of incident AF associated with personal characteristics, smoking, physical measurements, diabetes mellitus, lipid, inflammatory, cardiac, and diet- and renal-related markers.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Results</jats:title><jats:p>Overall, 15 737 participants (52% women) were included. There were sex differences in the relationship between a 1 SD increase in body mass index (BMI), NT-pro-BNP, uric acid, and cystatin-C and the risk of AF. The HRs were 1.17 (95% CI 1.08 to 1.27) in women and 1.36 (95% CI 1.24 to 1.49) in men for BMI (RHR 0.86, 95% CI 0.77 to 0.97); 1.84 (95% CI 1.62 to 2.09) in women and 1.54 (95% CI 1.40 to 1.68) in men for NT-pro-BNP (RHR 1.22, 95% CI1.05 to 1.42); 1.27 (95% CI 1.14 to 1.41) in women and 1.10 (95% CI 1.00 to 1.20) in men for uric acid (RHR 1.17, 95% CI 1.01 to 1.35); and 1.22 (95% CI 1.13 to 1.32) in women and 1.07 (95% CI 0.96 to 1.18) in men for cystatin-C (RHR 1.16, 95% CI 1.05 to1.27).</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Conclusion</jats:title><jats:p>Higher BMI is a stronger risk factor for AF in men whereas elevated NT-pro-BNP, uric acid and cystatin-C were more strongly associated with the risk of AF in women.</jats:p></jats:sec>

Original publication

DOI

10.1136/heartjnl-2018-313630

Type

Journal article

Journal

Heart

Publisher

BMJ

Publication Date

02/2019

Volume

105

Pages

226 - 234