Abstract
Sudden cardiac death (SCD) is the most devastating manifestation of ventricular arrhythmias (VAs), and is the leading cause of mortality among atrial fibrillation (AF) patients. The goal of the present study was to investigate the incidence of SCD/VAs amongst patients with and without AF. We also aimed to identify important risk factors of SCD/VAs among AF patients. Using the “National Health Insurance Research Database” in Taiwan, a total of 352,656 AF and 352,656 non-AF patients without antecedent SCD/VAs were identified. The annual risk of SCD/VAs was higher in AF than non-AF groups (0.97% versus 0.47%) with an adjusted hazard ratio (HR) of 1.64. The increased risk of SCD/VAs in AF patients was consistently observed in different age strata, various comorbidities and patients without use of class I/III anti-arrhythmic drugs or digoxin. Among AF patients, age ≥75 years, congestive heart failure, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, previous stroke/transient ischemic attack, vascular diseases, chronic kidney disease and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease were important risk factors for SCD/VAs. In conclusion, the risk of SCD/VAs amongst AF patients was 1.64-fold higher compared to non-AF patients, which was associated with the number of clinical risk factors associated with the particular AF patient.
Highlights
Of Sudden cardiac death (SCD)/ventricular arrhythmias (VAs) of atrial fibrillation (AF) patients, and compare their risk to non-AF subjects in relation to gender and age strata
AF patients were associated with a higher risk of SCD/VAs than non-AF patients during the follow up period, with an adjusted hazard ratio (HR) of 1.64 (Fig. 2)
AF patients were still associated with an increased risk of SCD/VAs with an adjusted HR of 1.72 after considering age, sex and important comorbidities in the competing-risk model
Summary
The goal of the present study was to investigate the incidence of SCD/VAs amongst patients with and without AF. The incidence of SCD/VAs stratified by age, gender and its predictors remains unclear, especially in an Asian cohort of AF patients. The goal of the present study was to investigate the incidence
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