Quitting smoking appears to reduce risk for atrial fibrillation
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Key takeaways:
- People who quit smoking had less risk for developing atrial fibrillation compared with current smokers.
- The relationship was true regardless of how long ago participants had quit smoking.
Among people who had ever smoked, those who quit had reduced risk for incident atrial fibrillation compared with those who had not, according to new data from the UK Biobank.
“The findings provide a compelling new reason to show current smokers that it’s not too late to quit and that having smoked in the past doesn’t mean you’re ‘destined’ to develop AFib,” Gregory M. Marcus, MD, MAS, professor of medicine and associate chief of cardiology for research at the University of California, San Francisco, said in a press release. “Even for the current and longtime smoker, AFib can still be avoided.”
Marcus and colleagues analyzed data from 146,772 participants from the UK Biobank who had a history of smoking (mean age, 57 years; 48% women). They determined, during a mean follow-up of 12.7 years, risk for incident AF by smoking status (current smokers, former smokers who quit before the study period or people who quit during the study period) after adjustment for age, sex, race, BMI, education, CV comorbidities, alcohol use and pack-years.
Among the cohort, 25.5% were current smokers, 72% were former smokers and 2.7% quit during the study period, the researchers wrote in JACC: Clinical Electrophysiology.
During the study period, 7.6% of participants developed AF.
Compared with current smokers, former smokers had 13% reduced risk for developing AF (adjusted HR = 0.87; 95% CI, 0.83-0.91) and people who quit during the study had 18% reduced risk for developing AF (aHR = 0.82; 95% CI, 0.7-0.95), Marcus and colleagues found.
“This is likely a testament to the potency of reducing AFib risk pretty shortly after quitting,” Marcus said in the release. “While the current study is ... observational, our findings lend credence to the idea that smoking may truly cause AFib.”
Reference:
- Quitting smoking reduces risk of atrial fibrillation. https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1057280. Published Sept. 11, 2024. Accessed Sept. 11, 2024.
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