Association Between CHADS2 Score and the Development of Interatrial Block

Advanced Interatrial Block Predicts Recurrence of Atrial Fibrillation and Ischemic Stroke in Elderly Patients With Hypertension

Background: This study aimed to investigate whether advanced interatrial block (IAB) is a predictor of recurrent atrial fibrillation (AF) and/or ischemic stroke in elderly patients with AF and hypertension.

Methods and objectives: Five hundred and sixteen elderly inpatients (mean age 85.53 ± 9.08 years; 5.43% women) with concurrent paroxysmal AF and hypertension were enrolled in this retrospective observational study. Data on comorbidity, medication, digital electrocardiograms (ECG), and outcomes were obtained from the medical records and follow-up examinations. IAB was classified as partial IAB or advanced IAB according to 12-lead surface ECG analysis on admission. Advanced IAB was defined as a maximum P wave duration of >120 ms with biphasic (±) morphology in leads II, Ⅲ, and aVF by two blinded investigators. The endpoints were recurrent AF and ischemic stroke.

Results: We enrolled 120 patients (23.26%) with partial IAB and 187 (36.24%) with advanced IAB. The mean follow-up duration was 19 months. A total of 320 patients (62.02%) developed AF recurrence, and 31 (6.01%) experienced ischemic stroke. Significant predictors of advanced IAB in multivariate analysis were older age (>80 years), increased left atrial diameter (>40 mm), and being overweight (body mass index >25 kg/m2). In the multivariable comprehensive Cox regression analyses, partial IAB was associated with AF recurrence. Advanced IAB was an independent predictor of increased risk of AF recurrence and ischemic stroke.

Conclusion: Both partial and advanced IAB are associated with AF recurrence in elderly patients with hypertension. Furthermore, advanced IAB is an independent predictor of ischemic stroke.

Independent associations of blood pressure and body mass index with interatrial block: a cross-sectional study in general Chinese population

OBJECTIVES

This current study was performed to characterise the independent associations of obesity and hypertension with interatrial block (IAB) after adjusting for cardiovascular risk factors, echocardiographic left atrial diameter (LAD) and left ventricular mass index (LVMI) in a large general Chinese population.

DESIGN

A cross-sectional study.

SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS

A total of 11 956 permanent residents (≥35 years of age) from Liaoning Province in China were included in this study. Following the completion of a questionnaire, the enrolled participants were subjected to physical examinations, laboratory analyses, ECG and echocardiogram. Linear and logistic regression analyses were performed to evaluate the associations of hypertension and obesity with IAB.

OUTCOME MEASURES

IAB was defined as a prolongation of the P wave duration ≥120 ms on a digital 12-lead ECG.

RESULTS

The prevalence of IAB in hypertensive individuals was higher than the normotensive in both men (9.5 vs 5.9%; p<0.001) and women (6.6 vs 3.6%; p<0.001). In addition, the prevalence of IAB exhibited a sharp increase with advancing body mass index (BMI) in both men (from 4.9% to 13.0%) and women (from 3.5% to 6.9%) (ps- for trend <0.001). Multiple relevant clinical covariates, echocardiographic LAD and LVMI were adjusted in the multivariate linear and logistic regression analyses. The results revealed that systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure and BMI were all independently associated with P wave duration (β=0.02, 0.09 and 0.25, respectively; all ps <0.005). Furthermore, hypertension was found to be independently associated with IAB (OR=1.27; p=0.018), while both overweight and obesity exhibited higher odds of IAB (OR=1.42 and 1.67, respectively; ps <0.005), compared with BMI <24.0 kg/m².

CONCLUSIONS

The key findings of this study highlighted that hypertension and overweight/obesity were independently and significantly associated with IAB in general Chinese population.