Birth weight and the risk of atrial fibrillation in whites and African Americans: The atherosclerosis risk in communities (ARIC) study

Background: Low birth weight (LBW) has been associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD). A previous study, however, found higher risk of atrial fibrillation (AF) in individuals with higher birth weight (BW). To further understand this apparent paradox, we examined the relations...

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Main Authors: Lawani, S., Demerath, E., Lopez, F., Soliman, E., Huxley, Rachel, Rose, K., Alonso, A.
Format: Journal Article
Published: 2014
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/7180
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author Lawani, S.
Demerath, E.
Lopez, F.
Soliman, E.
Huxley, Rachel
Rose, K.
Alonso, A.
author_facet Lawani, S.
Demerath, E.
Lopez, F.
Soliman, E.
Huxley, Rachel
Rose, K.
Alonso, A.
author_sort Lawani, S.
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description Background: Low birth weight (LBW) has been associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD). A previous study, however, found higher risk of atrial fibrillation (AF) in individuals with higher birth weight (BW). To further understand this apparent paradox, we examined the relationship between AF and BW in the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) cohort. Methods: The analysis included 10,132 individuals free of AF at baseline (1996-1998), who provided BW information, were not born premature, and were not a twin. Self-reported BW was categorized as low (<2.5 kg), medium (2.5-4 kg), and high (>4.0 kg). AF incidence was ascertained from hospital discharge codes and death certificates. We used multivariable Cox proportional hazard models to determine the hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) of AF across BW groups. Results: During an average follow-up of 10.3 years, we identified 882 incident AF cases. LBW was associated with higher risk of AF. Compared to individuals in the medium BW category, the HR (95% CI) of AF was 1.33 (0.99, 1.78) for LBW and 1.00 (0.81, 1.24) for high BW after adjusting for sociodemographic variables (p for trend = 0.29). Additional adjustment for CVD risk factors did not attenuate the associations (HR 1.42, 95% CI 1.06, 1.90 for LBW and HR 0.86, 95% CI 0.69-1.07 for high BW, compared to medium BW, p for trend = 0.01).Conclusion: LBW was associated with a higher risk of AF. This association was independent of known predictors of AF and is consistent with that observed for other cardiovascular diseases. © 2014 Lawani et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-71802017-09-13T14:41:03Z Birth weight and the risk of atrial fibrillation in whites and African Americans: The atherosclerosis risk in communities (ARIC) study Lawani, S. Demerath, E. Lopez, F. Soliman, E. Huxley, Rachel Rose, K. Alonso, A. Background: Low birth weight (LBW) has been associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD). A previous study, however, found higher risk of atrial fibrillation (AF) in individuals with higher birth weight (BW). To further understand this apparent paradox, we examined the relationship between AF and BW in the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) cohort. Methods: The analysis included 10,132 individuals free of AF at baseline (1996-1998), who provided BW information, were not born premature, and were not a twin. Self-reported BW was categorized as low (<2.5 kg), medium (2.5-4 kg), and high (>4.0 kg). AF incidence was ascertained from hospital discharge codes and death certificates. We used multivariable Cox proportional hazard models to determine the hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) of AF across BW groups. Results: During an average follow-up of 10.3 years, we identified 882 incident AF cases. LBW was associated with higher risk of AF. Compared to individuals in the medium BW category, the HR (95% CI) of AF was 1.33 (0.99, 1.78) for LBW and 1.00 (0.81, 1.24) for high BW after adjusting for sociodemographic variables (p for trend = 0.29). Additional adjustment for CVD risk factors did not attenuate the associations (HR 1.42, 95% CI 1.06, 1.90 for LBW and HR 0.86, 95% CI 0.69-1.07 for high BW, compared to medium BW, p for trend = 0.01).Conclusion: LBW was associated with a higher risk of AF. This association was independent of known predictors of AF and is consistent with that observed for other cardiovascular diseases. © 2014 Lawani et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2014 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/7180 10.1186/1471-2261-14-69 fulltext
spellingShingle Lawani, S.
Demerath, E.
Lopez, F.
Soliman, E.
Huxley, Rachel
Rose, K.
Alonso, A.
Birth weight and the risk of atrial fibrillation in whites and African Americans: The atherosclerosis risk in communities (ARIC) study
title Birth weight and the risk of atrial fibrillation in whites and African Americans: The atherosclerosis risk in communities (ARIC) study
title_full Birth weight and the risk of atrial fibrillation in whites and African Americans: The atherosclerosis risk in communities (ARIC) study
title_fullStr Birth weight and the risk of atrial fibrillation in whites and African Americans: The atherosclerosis risk in communities (ARIC) study
title_full_unstemmed Birth weight and the risk of atrial fibrillation in whites and African Americans: The atherosclerosis risk in communities (ARIC) study
title_short Birth weight and the risk of atrial fibrillation in whites and African Americans: The atherosclerosis risk in communities (ARIC) study
title_sort birth weight and the risk of atrial fibrillation in whites and african americans: the atherosclerosis risk in communities (aric) study
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/7180