Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease is Associated With Increased Atrial Fibrillation Risk in an Elderly Chinese Population

Because of the aging population and improvements in cardiovascular treatments, its prevalence is expected to increase substantially over the next few decades. AF has been reported to be associated with high rates of hospitalization and death. Along with older age, there are many independent risk factors for AF like obesity, hypertension, diabetes, ischemic heart disease, heart failure and valvular heart disease.

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease is one of the most prevalent liver diseases in the world whose prevalence ranges from 6% to 35%, with a median of 20% in the general population. In recent years, an increasing body of evidence have indicated that NAFLD is linked to cardiovascular disease, myocardial abnormalities, left ventricular diastolic dysfunction, heart failure, aortic valve sclerosis and so on.

NAFLD has also been observed to be significantly associated with AF in patients with type 2 diabetes. Furthermore, a cohort study showed that NAFLD was associated with an increased risk of prevalent AF in a middle-aged population. However, whether the association between NAFLD and AF also holds true in the elderly population remains uncertain. Therefore, the investigators conducted this cross-sectional study to explore the association between NAFLD and AF in an elderly Chinese population.

Inclusion criteria

• those who undergone an annual physical examination at Zhenhai Lianhua Hospital, Ningbo, China in 2014
• elderly adults (≥65 years old)

Exclusion criteria

• unknown alcohol intake or excessive alcohol intake
• unknown BMI or BMI≤18.0kg/m2
• incomplete basic physical data
• missing liver ultrasonic diagnosis
• unknown causes of chronic liver disease