Clinical InvestigationElectrophysiologyCigarette smoking and risk of atrial fibrillation: The Rotterdam Study
Section snippets
Study population
The Rotterdam Study is a prospective population-based cohort study aimed at assessing the occurrence and progression of and risk factors for chronic diseases in the elderly. Neurogeriatric, cardiovascular, locomotor, and ophthalmologic diseases are the main areas of interest.19 All residents of the Rotterdam suburb of Ommoord, aged ≥55 years, were invited to participate. Of the 10,275 eligible individuals, 7,983 (78%) responded. Between 1990 and 1993, participants were interviewed at their home
Results
The baseline characteristics are presented in Table I. Those who had never smoked (n = 2,229) were in general slightly older than former smokers (n = 2,159) and considerably older than current smokers (n = 1,280). Never smokers consisted almost entirely of women (90.7%). Current smokers had been smoking a median number of 45 years (range 4-85 years). The median number of cigarettes per day in this group was 15 (range 1-50 cigarettes). Corresponding numbers for former smokers were 28 years
Discussion
In this prospective, population-based study, both current and former smoking were associated with risk of atrial fibrillation. The results were independent of a history of myocardial infarction at baseline and myocardial infarction occurring during follow-up. The results were also independent of pulmonary disease at baseline.
Among current smokers, no dose-response relationship could be observed between measures of duration of smoking and amount of smoking and the risk of developing atrial
Conclusion
The results of this prospective, population-based study indicate that smoking is associated with an increased risk of atrial fibrillation. Former smoking is an equally strong risk factor as current smoking.
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