Pulse pressure is not an independent predictor of incident atrial fibrillation in 60-year-old men and women.

ABSTRACT

AIM: To evaluate if pulse pressure (PP) is a risk predictor for atrial fibrillation (AF) in a longitudinal study of 60-year-old men and women from Stockholm (n = 4,232), free from AF at baseline, with primary end-point incident AF. METHODS: AF diagnoses were obtained from the national hospital discharge register. The estimated risk of AF associated with increasing PP values was calculated according to PP values above median (>52.5 mmHg) and according to 1-SD increase (14 mmHg) in PP, using a crude and an adjusted Cox proportional hazard regression model. RESULTS: During a mean follow-up of 13.6 years, 286 incident AF cases were recorded. The number of AF cases increased significantly with increasing PP quartile in men but not in women. PP values above median were associated with increased AF risk (crude HR 1.63, 95% CI 1.28-2.06; p < 0.001), but risk estimates were attenuated after adjustment for common AF risk factors. When PP was entered in the Cox regression model as a continuous variable, the risk of AF did not change by 1-SD PP increase (adjusted HR 1.04, 95% CI 0.91-1.20; p = 0.560). CONCLUSIONS: PP seems not to be associated with incident AF in a Swedish population of 60-year-old men and women.