Body size and atrial fibrillation in Japanese outpatients.
BACKGROUND
Although recent studies have suggested that height and body mass index (BMI) independently affect the prevalence of atrial fibrillation (AF), their combined effects have not been fully examined in Japanese patients.


RESULTS
Patients without organic cardiac diseases, hypertension and diabetes mellitus were screened from a prospective, single hospital-based cohort of the Shinken Database 2004-2007 (n=4,719). Both height and BMI significantly increased the crude rate of AF prevalence and the effects were significant even after adjustment by age, sex and left atrial dimension. The relative risks (RRs) for AF in the height and BMI categories were 2.07 (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.70-2.52) and 1.78 (95%CI 1.46-2.17), respectively, in the highest tertile compared with the lowest tertile. The RRs in the highest combined tertile was high to 2.98 (95%CI 2.07-4.28) compared with the lowest combined tertile, an unignorable figure for AF prevalence in the future.


CONCLUSIONS
Height and BMI synergistically affected the prevalence of AF in Japanese patients. With respect to the recent increase in body size of the Japanese population, the present study predicts that there will be more occurrences of AF than previously predicted. (Circ J 2010; 74: 66 - 70).
Suzuki
Shinya
S
Department of Clinical Epidemiology&Systems, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, Japan. sinsuz-tky@umin.ac.jp
Yamashita
Takeshi
T
Ohtsuka
Takayuki
T
Sagara
Koichi
K
Uejima
Tokuhisa
T
Oikawa
Yuji
Y
Yajima
Junji
J
Koike
Akira
A
Nagashima
Kazuyuki
K
Kirigaya
Hajime
H
Ogasawara
Ken
K
Sawada
Hitoshi
H
Yamazaki
Tsutomu
T
Aizawa
Tadanori
T
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001281:Atrial Fibrillation / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000208:ethnology*; D001827:Body Height; D015992:Body Mass Index; D015331:Cohort Studies; D004562:Electrocardiography; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010045:Outpatients; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D015995:Prevalence; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D014505:Urban Population