title: Left ventricular posterior wall thickness is an independent risk factor for paroxysmal atrial fibrillation.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Atrial fibrillation is the most common significant cardiac arrhythmia in clinical practice, but its risk factors remain to be clarified. We have hypothesized that left ventricular posterior wall thickness is an independent risk factor for paroxysmal atrial fibrillation (PAF).
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 166 consecutive patients with paroxysmal atrial fibrillation were included in this study. Another 166 healthy check-up people, strictly age and sex-matched, were enrolled as controls in the same period. Univariable analysis and multivariable conditional logistic stepwise regression analysis were conducted. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was performed on those significant indices obtained from the multivariable logistic regression analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The multivariable stepwise analysis identified left ventricular posterior wall thickness, left atrial diameter tricuspid insufficiency and residence (countryside) as independent predictors for paroxysmal atrial fibrillation. Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis demonstrated the cutoff values of those risk factors aforementioned.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In this strictly age and sex-matched population-based sample, left ventricular posterior wall thickness, left atrial diameter, tricuspid insufficiency and residence were predictive risks for paroxysmal atrial fibrillation. This study offers novel information therapeutically beyond that provided by traditional clinical atrial fibrillation risk factors.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou Jiangsu Province 215006, China.
authors.forename: H F
authors.initials: HF
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Y M
authors.initials: YM
authors.lastname: He
authors.forename: Y X
authors.initials: YX
authors.lastname: Qian
authors.forename: X
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.forename: X
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: X J
authors.initials: XJ
authors.lastname: Yang
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001281:Atrial Fibrillation / Q000473:pathology*; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D002681:China; D005260:Female; D006352:Heart Ventricles / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012372:ROC Curve; D012307:Risk Factors; D014261:Tricuspid Valve / Q000473:pathology*