title: Association between atrial fibrillation and volumetric magnetic resonance imaging brain measures: Framingham Offspring Study.
abstract: The increased risk of stroke and cognitive impairment associated with atrial fibrillation (AF) is well documented. However, there is a paucity of research investigating the relations between AF and brain morphology.
  
  
  
  The purpose of this study was to investigate the association between AF and brain volume measures on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).
  
  
  
  The study sample included stroke- and dementia-free participants who attended the Framingham Heart Study offspring cohort 7th examination cycle (1999-2005) and underwent contemporaneous MRI. We examined the association between prevalent AF and brain volume measures (total cerebral volume, frontal lobe volume, temporal lobe volume, temporal horn volume, hippocampal volume, and white matter hyperintensity volume) with linear regression. We first adjusted models for age and sex, and then for vascular risk factors and APOE4.
  
  
  
  We studied 2144 individuals (mean age 61.8 ± 9.3 years; 54% women); 73 participants (3.4%) had prevalent AF at the time of MRI. In age- and sex-adjusted models, AF was inversely associated with total cerebral brain volume, frontal brain volume, and temporal brain volume. After further adjustment for vascular risk factors and APOE4, AF remained associated with frontal brain volume.
  
  
  
  After accounting for vascular risk factor burden, prevalent AF was associated with lobar indexes of vascular brain aging but not with expected white matter changes.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts; The Framingham Heart Study, Framingham, Massachusetts.
authors.forename: Ryan J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Piers
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, California.
authors.forename: Arvind
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Nishtala
authors.affiliation: The Framingham Heart Study, Framingham, Massachusetts; Department of Biostatistics, Boston University School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts.
authors.forename: Sarah R
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Preis
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, University of California, Davis, California.
authors.forename: Charles
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: DeCarli
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts; The Framingham Heart Study, Framingham, Massachusetts.
authors.forename: Philip A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Wolf
authors.affiliation: The Framingham Heart Study, Framingham, Massachusetts; Department of Medicine, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts.
authors.forename: Emelia J
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Benjamin
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts; The Framingham Heart Study, Framingham, Massachusetts. Electronic address: rhodaau@bu.edu.
authors.forename: Rhoda
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Au
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology / Q000523:psychology; D001281:Atrial Fibrillation / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000098:blood supply / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009929:Organ Size; D018570:Risk Assessment / Q000379:methods; D012307:Risk Factors; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D020521:Stroke / Q000453:epidemiology*; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology
keywords: Atrial fibrillation; Brain volume; Framingham; Imaging; Magnetic resonance imaging