Table 2.

Risk of Sudden Cardiac Death and Nonsudden Cardiac Death by Atrial Fibrillation Status, Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study (ARIC) and Cardiovascular Health Study (CHS)

		Incident AF through 2001, ARIC			Incident AF through 2006, CHS			Meta-analysis
		No	Yes	P Value	No	Yes	P Value	HR (95% CI)	P Value	P Value for heterogeneity
Sudden Cardiac Death
Number of events		238	31		225	67
Person-years		183086	10719		58877	5582
Crude incidence rate (95% CI)^a		1.30 (1.14–1.47)	2.89 (2.00–4.05)		3.82 (3.35–4.35)	12.00 (9.45–15.25)
Hazard ratio (95% CI)	Model 1^b	1 [Referent]	5.40 (3.63–8.04)	<.001	1 [Referent]	2.51 (1.88–3.33)	<.001	3.26 (2.58–4.11)	<.001	.002
	Model 2^c	1 [Referent]	3.26 (2.17–4.91)	<.001	1 [Referent]	2.14 (1.60–2.87)	<.001	2.47 (1.95–3.13)	<.001	.10
Nonsudden Cardiac Death
Number of events		189	44		379	202
Person-years		183086	10719		58877	5582
Crude incidence rate (95% CI)^a		1.03 (0.89–1.19)	4.10 (3.02–5.46)		6.44 (5.82–7.11)	36.19 (31.52–41.54)
Hazard ratio (95% CI)	Model 1^b	1 [Referent]	4.66 (3.12–6.95)	<.001	1 [Referent]	3.55 (2.97–4.25)	<.001	3.72 (3.15–4.38)	<.001	.22
	Model 2^c	1 [Referent]	2.43 (1.60–3.71)	<.001	1 [Referent]	3.10 (2.58–3.72)	<.001	2.98 (2.52–3.53)	<.001	.30

Abbreviations: AF, atrial fibrillation; CI, confidence interval

Per 1000 person-years of follow-up

Cox proportional hazards model adjusted for age, sex, race, and field center

Model 1 additionally adjusted for baseline covariates: heart rate, smoking status, body mass index, hypertension, diabetes, coronary heart disease, heart failure, ECG-based left ventricular hypertrophy, use of beta-blockers, use of digoxin, and use of anti-arrhythmic drugs. In CHS, Model 2 was not adjusted for use of digoxin