title: Inflammatory bowel "Cardiac" disease: Point prevalence of atrial fibrillation in inflammatory bowel disease population.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Proinflammatory markers such as interleukin (IL)-6 have been closely associated with atrial fibrillation (AF). These markers are characteristically elevated in chronic inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and positively correlate with disease activity. Although IBD and AF have similar pathogenesis, there have been very limited studies looking at their association. The aim of this study is to determine the prevalence of AF in patients with IBD.
  
  
  METHODS
  Medical records of patients with biopsy proven IBD (n = 203, both in and outpatient) were retrospectively reviewed. One hundred and forty-one IBD patients with documentary evidence of electrocardiograms (ECG's) were included. The "Anticoagulation and Risk Factors in Atrial Fibrillation (ATRIA)" study, a large cross-sectional study (n = 1.89 million) done to evaluate the prevalence of AF among the US population, was our control population. All ECGs available till December 2010 for each IBD patient were reviewed carefully for evidence of AF. We studied the prevalence of AF among IBD population and compared it to that of control (ATRIA) population.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The prevalence of AF was significantly higher among IBD patients compared with the ATRIA study patients (11.3% vs 0.9%, P < 0.0001). Additionally, the IBD patient population were much younger compared with the controls (64.4 ± 10.7 vs 71.2 ± 12.2, P = 0.02).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  AF has an overall higher prevalence across all age groups in IBD compared with the subjects of ATRIA study, which could be due to the chronic inflammatory state of IBD. Further studies are needed to study the association in detail.
authors.affiliation: Department of Heart and Vascular Center, MetroHealth Campus of Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, USA.
authors.forename: Deepak J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Pattanshetty
authors.forename: Kiran
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Anna
authors.forename: Rama D
authors.initials: RD
authors.lastname: Gajulapalli
authors.forename: RajaShekhar R
authors.initials: RR
authors.lastname: Sappati-Biyyani
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001281:Atrial Fibrillation / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000378:metabolism; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000378:metabolism; D001706:Biopsy; D002097:C-Reactive Protein / Q000378:metabolism; D002908:Chronic Disease; D003093:Colitis, Ulcerative / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000378:metabolism; D003424:Crohn Disease / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000378:metabolism; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004562:Electrocardiography; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015850:Interleukin-6 / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D015850:Interleukin-6; D002097:C-Reactive Protein