Atrial Fibrillation is a strong risk factor for the occurrence of stroke and emboli causing occlusion of major vessels to vital organs. New study reveals that, younger the age at diabetes onset, the greater the likelihood of developing Atrial Fibrillation.

At the Annual Congress of the European Society of Cardiology, Dr. Jannik L. Pallisgaard of the University of Copenhagen explained the key finding from a Danish national registry study in which all 5,168,416 Danish adults without atrial fibrillation in 1996 were followed through 2012 for development of atrial fibrillation (AF). The study population included 75,197 Danes with diabetes at baseline and another 235,327 who developed the disease during follow-up.

Dr. Pallisgaard reported that, during follow-up, 5.6% of those with diabetes and 3.3% of those without diabetes developed AF. The mean time from diabetes onset to AF onset was 5 years.

The incidence rate ratio for developing AF per 1,000 person-years of follow-up was roughly 2.5-fold greater in 18- to 39-year olds with diabetes than in their non diabetic peers. Dr. Pallisgaard cited two likely mechanisms underlying the observed increased risk of AF in diabetic patients: left ventricular hypertrophy and vascular inflammation, which are both often present in the diabetic population.

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