Obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure and current smoking were all modifiable risk factors for heart failure which accounted for the majority of risk in Women’s Health Study participants with new onset atrial fibrillation, researchers said.
Women with Afib in the study who were not obese, did not smoke, or have hypertension or diabetes had a significantly decreased risk for developing heart failure, suggesting that targeting these factors may greatly decrease incident HF burden in Afib patients.
“In women free of prevalent cardiovascular disease at baseline, new-onset atrial fibrillation was associated with an increased risk of heart failure, which, in turn, was associated with increased mortality and morbidity,” wrote researcher Christine Albert, MD, of Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, and colleagues in JACC: Heart Failure.
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