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. 2023 Jun 2;25(6):euad143.
doi: 10.1093/europace/euad143.

Risk of myocardial infarction and ischemic stroke in individuals with first-diagnosed paroxysmal vs. non-paroxysmal atrial fibrillation under anticoagulation

George Ntaios  1   2 , Dimitrios Sagris  1   2 , Benjamin J R Buckley  1   3 , Stephanie L Harrison  1   4 , Azmil Abdul-Rahim  1   4 , Philip Austin  5 , Gregory Y H Lip  1   4   3   6
Affiliations

Risk of myocardial infarction and ischemic stroke in individuals with first-diagnosed paroxysmal vs. non-paroxysmal atrial fibrillation under anticoagulation

George Ntaios et al. Europace. .

Abstract

Aims: There is conflicting evidence on whether the type of atrial fibrillation (AF) is associated with risk of cardiovascular events, including acute myocardial infarction (MI) and ischemic stroke. The aim of the present study was to investigate whether the risk of MI and ischemic stroke differs between individuals with first-diagnosed paroxysmal vs. non-paroxysmal AF treated with anticoagulants.

Methods and results: De-identified electronic medical records from the TriNetX federated research network were used. Individuals with a new diagnosis of paroxysmal AF who had no evidence of other types of AF in their records were 1:1 propensity score-matched with individuals with non-paroxysmal AF, defined as persistent or chronic AF, who had no evidence of other types of AF in their records. All patients were followed for three years for the outcomes of MI and ischemic stroke. Cox proportional hazard models were used to calculate hazard ratios (HRs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs). In the propensity-matched cohort, among 24 848 well-matched AF individuals [mean age 74.4 ± 10.4; 10 101 (40.6%) female], 410 (1.7%) were diagnosed with acute MI and 875 (3.5%) with ischemic stroke during the three-year follow-up. Individuals with paroxysmal AF had significantly higher risk of acute MI (HR: 1.65, 95%CI: 1.35-2.01) compared to those with non-paroxysmal AF. First diagnosed paroxysmal AF was associated with higher risk of non-ST elevation MI (nSTEMI) (HR: 1.89, 95%CI: 1.44-2.46). No significant association was observed between the type of AF and risk of ischemic stroke (HR: 1.09, 95%CI: 0.95-1.25).

Conclusion: Patients with first-diagnosed paroxysmal AF had higher risk of acute MI compared to individuals with non-paroxysmal AF, attributed to the higher risk of nSTEMI among patients with first-diagnosed paroxysmal AF. There was no significant association between type of AF and risk of ischemic stroke.

Keywords: Atrial fibrillation; Ischemic stroke; Myocardial infarction; Paroxysmal; Permanent.

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Conflict of interest statement

G.N. reported receiving speaker honoraria from Abbott, Amgen, Boehringer Ingelheim, Elpen, and Sanofi paid to the University of Thessaly. D.S. reports receiving research support by the ESC council on Stroke. B.J.R.B. has received investigator-initiated research funding from BMS/Pfizer. S.L.H. has received a grant from Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS) outside of the submitted work. A.A.R. reports no conflict of interests. P.A. is an employee of TriNetX. G.Y.H.L. reports being a consultant and speaker for BMS/Pfizer, Boehringer Ingelheim and Daiichi-Sankyo. No fees are received personally.

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References

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