Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2014 Jun;22(6):1546-52.
doi: 10.1002/oby.20706. Epub 2014 Feb 18.

Body fat, body fat distribution, lean body mass and atrial fibrillation and flutter. A Danish cohort study

Lars Frost  1 , Emelia J Benjamin, Morten Fenger-Grøn, Asger Pedersen, Anne Tjønneland, Kim Overvad
Affiliations

Body fat, body fat distribution, lean body mass and atrial fibrillation and flutter. A Danish cohort study

Lars Frost et al. Obesity (Silver Spring). 2014 Jun.

Abstract

Objective: It is recognized that higher height and weight are associated with higher risk of atrial fibrillation or flutter (AF) but it is unclear whether risk of AF is related to body fat, body fat location, or lean body mass.

Methods: This article reports the Danish population-based prospective cohort Diet, Cancer and Health study conducted among 55,273 men and women 50-64 years of age at recruitment. The associations between bioelectrical impedance derived measures of body composition and combinations of anthropometric measures of body fat distribution and risk of an incident record of AF in the Danish Registry of Patients were investigated.

Results: During follow-up (median 13.5 years) AF developed in 1,669 men and 912 women. Higher body fat at any measured location was associated with higher risk of AF. The adjusted hazard ratio (HR) per 1 sex-specific standard deviation (SD) increment in body fat mass was 1.29 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.24-1.33). Higher lean body mass was also associated with a higher risk of AF. The adjusted HR for 1 sex-specific SD increment was 1.40 (95% CI, 1.35-1.45).

Conclusion: Higher body fat and higher lean body mass were both associated with higher risk of AF.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Splines with four knots of age and sex adjusted (broken lines) and fully adjusted (solid lines) relation between measures of anthropometry or body composition and risk of AF. Shaded areas are 95% confidence intervals around fully adjusted splines. For information on fully adjusted model consult method section. P-values for deviation from log-linearity: Height (p = 0.5), weight (p = 0.5), body mass index (p = 0.01), waist circumference (p = 0.4), hip circumference (p = 0.3), waist-to-hip ratio (p = 0.5), body fat mass (p = 0.01), body fat percentage (p < 0.001), lean body mass (p = 0.5).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Wolf PA, Abbott RD, Kannel WB. Atrial fibrillation as an independent risk factor for stroke: the Framingham Study. Stroke. 1991;22(8):983–988. - PubMed
    1. Benjamin EJ, Wolf PA, D'Agostino RB, Silbershatz H, Kannel WB, Levy D. Impact of atrial fibrillation on the risk of death: the Framingham Heart Study. Circulation. 1998;98(10):946–952. - PubMed
    1. Santangeli P, Di BL, Bai R, et al. Atrial fibrillation and the risk of incident dementia: a meta-analysis. Heart Rhythm. 2012;9(11):1761–1768. - PubMed
    1. Conen D, Tedrow UB, Cook NR, Buring JE, Albert CM. Birth weight is a significant risk factor for incident atrial fibrillation. Circulation. 2010;122(8):764–770. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Psaty BM, Manolio TA, Kuller LH, et al. Incidence of and risk factors for atrial fibrillation in older adults. Circulation. 1997;96(7):2455–2461. - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms

LinkOut - more resources