Abstract
BACKGROUND: Smoking and atrial fibrillation (AF) are major health problems worldwide and are responsible for substantial health-care costs. Our aim was to investigate whether smoking impacts the risk of stroke and death in patients with AF. To test this hypothesis, we analyzed data from a large Danish cohort: the Diet, Cancer, and Health study.
METHODS: This was a cohort study of 57,053 people (27,178 men; 29,876 women) aged 50 to 64 years. The risk of thromboembolism (ischemic stroke/arterial thromboembolism) or death according to smoking habits among 3,161 patients with incident AF (mean age, 66.9 years; 2,032 men, 1,129 women) was assessed using Cox proportional hazard models after a median follow-up of 4.9 years.
RESULTS: Of those with AF, 34% were current smokers and 37% former smokers. After adjustment for vitamin K antagonist treatment, the hazard ratios (HRs) (95% CI) of thromboembolism or death were 3.13 (1.72-6.37) and 2.73 (2.02-3.70) among women and men who currently were heavy smokers (>25 g/d), respectively. The associations remained after adjustment for well-established risk factors with HRs of 3.64 (1.88-7.07) and 2.17 (1.59-2.95) among women and men, respectively. In a sensitivity analysis, smoking was still strongly associated with thromboembolism or death after censoring people with a cancer diagnosis during follow-up.
CONCLUSIONS: Smoking is associated with a higher risk of thromboembolism or death in patients with AF even after adjusting for well-recognized risk factors used in stroke risk stratification schemes. The associations may be modified by sex, as the associations were strongest among women.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 559-66 |
Number of pages | 8 |
Journal | Chest |
Volume | 145 |
Issue number | 3 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 1 Mar 2014 |
Keywords
- Atrial Fibrillation
- Cause of Death
- Denmark
- Diet
- Female
- Follow-Up Studies
- Humans
- Incidence
- Male
- Middle Aged
- Prognosis
- Prospective Studies
- Registries
- Risk Factors
- Smoking
- Thromboembolism
- Time Factors