Incidence of atrial fibrillation in cancer patients according to cancer type

Abstract

Abstract Background and objectives The prevalence of both atrial fibrillation (AF) and cancer are increasing especially in the elderly. The occurrence of AF in cancer may be related to comorbidities of patients, cancer treatment, or a direct tumor effect. The objectives of this study were to investigate the incidence of AF according to cancer type. Methods From the Korean National Health Insurance Service elderly (NHIS-elderly) cohort (age >60), we identified 67,077 patients with newly diagnosed cancer and without previous AF. Incidence rates of new onset AF were evaluated. Results The mean age of the cancer patients was 75.1 year and 53.5% were males. During a median follow-up period of 25 months, the incidence rate of AF among overall cancer patients was higher than that of age-sex matched non-cancer population (1.42 vs. 0.69 per 100 person-years, respectively). Compared with solid cancer, the risk of incident AF in patients with hematologic cancer was significantly higher (hazard ratio [HR]: 1.53, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.39–1.72, p<0.001). Among patients with solid cancer, thoracic (lung cancer, esophageal cancer, mediastinal cancer, etc.) and breast cancer was associated with a higher risk of AF incidence compared with other solid cancer (HR: 1.64, 95% CI: 1.53–1.76, p<0.001). Conclusions Cancer was associated with an increased incidence of AF. Hematologic cancer was associated with higher risk of AF incidence than solid cancer. Among solid cancer, thoracic and breast cancer was most strongly associated with the risk of AF incidence. Funding Acknowledgement Type of funding source: None