Austin TR, et al. - Researchers assessed which demographic, anthropometric, cardiovascular, and/or electrocardiographic factors are associated with atrial fibrillation (AF) incidence in the Jackson Heart Study (JHS), a community-based study of 5,306 African Americans (AAs). Based on the findings, they concluded that AF prevention among AAs can be potentially additionally benefitted by interventions for weight management, hypertension control, and smoking cessation.

Methods

• Researchers, via hospital surveillance, study electrocardiogram, and Medicare claims, identified baseline participant characteristics and incident AF and estimated age- and sex-specific AF incidence rates.
• These rates where then compared with rates in AA participants in the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA) and Cardiovascular Health Study (CHS), and then assessed the associations of cardiovascular risk factors with AF.

Results

• At baseline, prevalent AF was reported in 66 participants.
• They detected 242 cases of incident AF over an average follow-up of 8.5 years.
• Findings revealed that age- and sex-specific AF incidence rates in JHS were like those among AAs in MESA, and seemed slightly lower than those in AAs in CHS.
• In an age- and sex-adjusted model, high body weight (HR=1.23 per 15kg, 95%CI 1.13-1.35), systolic blood pressure (HR=1.29 per 20mmHg, 95%CI 1.13-1.47), and current smoking (HR=1.80, 95%CI 1.27-2.55) were the modifiable risk factors related to incident AF.
• They noted that multivariable adjustments only slightly reduced the risk estimates associated with these risk factors.