Association between varicose vein and atrial fibrillation-a population-based study in Taiwan.

Abstract

This study retrospectively explores the association between varicose vein and atrial fibrillation (AF). The data are from Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database. The univariate and multivariable-adjusted hazard ratios (HR), with corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CI), for the occurrence of AF between the varicose vein cohort and comparison cohort were estimated using cox proportional hazards models after adjustment for age, sex, and comorbidities. The incidence rates of AF in the varicose vein and the comparison cohort were 4.82 per 1000 person-years and 3.47 per 1000-person years, respectively. After controlling for all the confounding variables, subjects with varicose vein were associated with a significantly higher risk of AF (adjusted HR = 1.23, 95% CI = 1.04-1.45) compared with the comparison cohort. Our study is the first to show that varicose vein correlates to AF.