Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease Is Associated with Increased Atrial Fibrillation Risk in an Elderly Chinese Population: A Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

Background Atrial fibrillation and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease are two pathological conditions that are highly prevalent worldwide and share multiple CVD risk factors. There are rare researches performed among elderly adults. Aims We conducted this cross-sectional analysis of elderly adults (≥65 years) to investigate the association between atrial fibrillation and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. Methods We analyzed clinical data of the elderly adults (≥ 65 years) who had health examination in Zhenhai Lianhua Hospital, Ningbo, China, in 2014. Results 522 of the 1688 participants were diagnosed with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, and 39 participants were diagnosed as having atrial fibrillation. Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease was associated with risk factors for AF in the elderly Chinese population (OR 1.95, 95% CI 1.03-3.69). Adjustments for age, gender, systolic blood pressure, fasting plasma glucose, γ-glutamyl transpeptidase, high-density lipoprotein, triglycerides, total cholesterol and albumin, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, and prevalent atrial fibrillation remained statistically significant (OR 2.76, 95% CI 1.32-5.77). Conclusions Our results show that nonalcoholic fatty liver disease is associated with an increased risk of atrial fibrillation in an elderly Chinese population.

Association between non‐alcoholic fatty liver disease and risk of atrial fibrillation in adult individuals: An updated meta‐analysis

“…After excluding duplicates, based on the titles and abstracts of 89 citations (in accordance with the aforementioned exclusion criteria of the meta‐analysis), we initially identified 11 potentially relevant studies from PubMed, Web of Science and Scopus databases prior to December 14, 2018 (date last searched). After examining the full text of these 11 publications, we further excluded 2 studies, because of unsatisfactory inclusion criteria ( n = 1) or unsatisfactory outcome measures ( n = 1), as specified in the PRISMA flow diagram.…”

“…In total, 9 observational studies were eligible for inclusion in the meta‐analysis and were assessed for quality . The main characteristics of the included studies are summarized in Table .…”

“…Compared to the meta‐analysis by Wijarnpreecha et al and the other 2 previous smaller meta‐analyses, we have almost doubled both the number of studies ( n = 9 studies) and the total sample size ( n = 364 919 individuals included), especially by including newer observational studies published in 2017 and 2018, and conducted a more thorough statistical analysis (e.g. performing separate analyses for cross‐sectional and longitudinal studies as well as performing multiple sensitivity analyses and reliable analyses for excluding publication bias).…”

“…Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common sustained arrhythmia in clinical practice and is a major health problem worldwide, owing to its associated morbidity and increased mortality . As it will be discussed in greater detail below, a number of observational studies have recently examined the association between NAFLD and risk of both prevalent and incident AF in middle‐aged and elderly individuals, but these have produced conflicting results …”

“…10 As it will be discussed in greater detail below, a number of observational studies have recently examined the association between NAFLD and risk of both prevalent and incident AF in middle-aged and elderly individuals, but these have produced conflicting results. [11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18] We therefore carried out a comprehensive systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies examining the association between NAFLD and risk of permanent (chronic) AF in middleaged and elderly individuals. Our aim was to determine whether, and to what extent, NAFLD is associated with the risk of both prevalent and incident AF.…”