TY - JOUR
T1 - Risk of atrial fibrillation as a function of the electrocardiographic PR interval
T2 - Results from the Copenhagen ECG Study
AU - Nielsen, Jonas Bille
AU - Pietersen, Adrian
AU - Graff, Claus
AU - Lind, Bent
AU - Struijk, Johannes Jan
AU - Olesen, Morten Salling
AU - Haunsø, Stig
AU - Gerds, Thomas Aalexander
AU - Ellinor, Patrick Thomas
AU - Køber, Lars
AU - Svendsen, Jesper Hastrup
AU - Holst, Anders Gaarsdal
PY - 2013/9
Y1 - 2013/9
N2 - Background Prolongation of the PR interval has been associated with an increased risk of incident atrial fibrillation (AF). Objective To determine if there was a nonlinear relation between PR interval duration and the risk of AF. Methods We included 288,181 individuals, corresponding to one third of the population in the greater region of Copenhagen. These individuals had a digital electrocardiogram (ECG) recorded in a general practitioner's core facility from 2001 to 2010. Data on drug use, comorbidity, and outcomes were collected from Danish registries. Results During a median follow-up period of 5.7 years, 11,087 developed AF. Having a PR interval ≥95th percentile (≥196 ms for women, ≥204 ms for men) was associated with an increased risk of AF as evidenced by a multivariable-adjusted hazard ratio (HR) of 1.18 (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.06-1.30, P =.001) for women and 1.30 (1.17-1.44, P <.001) for men compared with the respective reference groups (PR interval between 40th and 60th percentile). Having a short PR interval <5th percentile (≤121 ms for women, ≤129 ms for men) was also associated with an increased risk of AF for women (HR 1.32, 95% CI 1.12-1.56, P =.001), but this was not significant for men (HR 1.09, 95% CI 0.92-1.29, P =.33). Conclusion In this large ECG study, we found an increased risk of AF for longer PR intervals for both women and men. With respect to short PR intervals, we also observed an increased risk of AF for women.
AB - Background Prolongation of the PR interval has been associated with an increased risk of incident atrial fibrillation (AF). Objective To determine if there was a nonlinear relation between PR interval duration and the risk of AF. Methods We included 288,181 individuals, corresponding to one third of the population in the greater region of Copenhagen. These individuals had a digital electrocardiogram (ECG) recorded in a general practitioner's core facility from 2001 to 2010. Data on drug use, comorbidity, and outcomes were collected from Danish registries. Results During a median follow-up period of 5.7 years, 11,087 developed AF. Having a PR interval ≥95th percentile (≥196 ms for women, ≥204 ms for men) was associated with an increased risk of AF as evidenced by a multivariable-adjusted hazard ratio (HR) of 1.18 (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.06-1.30, P =.001) for women and 1.30 (1.17-1.44, P <.001) for men compared with the respective reference groups (PR interval between 40th and 60th percentile). Having a short PR interval <5th percentile (≤121 ms for women, ≤129 ms for men) was also associated with an increased risk of AF for women (HR 1.32, 95% CI 1.12-1.56, P =.001), but this was not significant for men (HR 1.09, 95% CI 0.92-1.29, P =.33). Conclusion In this large ECG study, we found an increased risk of AF for longer PR intervals for both women and men. With respect to short PR intervals, we also observed an increased risk of AF for women.
U2 - 10.1016/j.hrthm.2013.04.012
DO - 10.1016/j.hrthm.2013.04.012
M3 - Journal article
C2 - 23608590
SN - 1547-5271
VL - 10
SP - 1249
EP - 1256
JO - Heart Rhythm
JF - Heart Rhythm
IS - 9
ER -