Big women have nearly threefold greater risk of atrial fibrillation
Atrial fibrillation is the most common heart rhythm disorder, with a 20% lifetime risk. It occurs most often in people over 60 years of age and increases the risk of stroke and heart failure. "Our research has previously shown that a large body size at age 20, and weight gain from age 20 to midlife, both independently increase the risk of atrial fibrillation in men," said author Professor Annika Rosengren, professor of internal medicine at the Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg , Sweden. "In this study we investigated the impact of body size on atrial fibrillation risk in women." The study included 1,522,358 women with a first pregnancy aged 28 years on average. Data on weight early in pregnancy, height, age, diabetes, hypertension and smoking were obtained from the Swedish Medical Birth Registry. Information on hospitalisation with atrial fibrillation was collected from the Swedish Inpatient Registry. Body surface area (BSA) in m 2 was calculate...