Alcohol consumption in relation to the incidence of atrial fibrillation in an elderly Chinese population

• Published in: Journal of geriatric cardiology : JGC Vol. 19; no. 1; pp. 52 - 60
• Main Authors: Ye, Xiao-Fei, Zhang, Wei, Chen, Yi, Miao, Chao-Ying, Huang, Qi-Fang, Sheng, Chang-Sheng, Shao, Shuai, Wang, Dian, Xu, Shao-Kun, Lei, Lei, Zhang, Di, Chen, Yi-Lin, Hu, Lei-Xiao, Xia, Jia-Hui, Cheng, Yi-Bang, Wang, Ying, Guo, Qian-Hui, Li, Yan, Lowres, Nicole, Freedman, Ben, Wang, Ji-Guang
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: China Science Press 28.01.2022
• ISSN: 1671-5411
• DOI: 10.11909/j.issn.1671-5411.2022.01.005

Alcohol consumption is a known modifiable risk factor for atrial fibrillation. The association, however, might differ according to gender. We investigated gender-specific associations between alcohol consumption and incident atrial fibrillation in an elderly Chinese population. Our study participants were elderly residents (≥ 65 years) recruited from five community health centers in the urban area of Shanghai ( = 6,618). Alcohol intake was classified as never drinkers and current light-to-moderate (< 40 g/day) and heavy drinkers (≥ 40 g/day). Atrial fibrillation was detected by a 30-s single-lead electrocardiography (ECG, AliveCor Heart Monitor) and further evaluated with a regular 12-lead ECG. During a median of 2.1 years (interquartile range: 2.0-2.2) follow-up, the incidence rate of atrial fibrillation was 1.10% in all study participants. It was slightly but non-significantly higher in men ( = 2849) than women ( = 3769, 1.30% . 0.96%, = 0.19) and in current drinkers ( = 793) than never drinkers ( = 5825, 1.64% . 1.03%, = 0.12). In both unadjusted and adjusted analyses, there was interaction between sex and current alcohol intake in relation to the incidence of atrial fibrillation ( < 0.0001). After adjustment for confounding factors, current drinkers had a significantly higher incidence rate of atrial fibrillation than never drinkers in women (12.96% [7/54] . 0.78% [29/3715], adjusted odds ratio [OR] = 10.25, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 3.54-29.67, < 0.0001), but not in men (0.81% [6/739] . 1.47% [31/2110], OR = 0.62, 95% CI: 0.25-1.51, = 0.29). Our study showed a significant association between alcohol intake and the incidence of atrial fibrillation in elderly Chinese women, but not men.