Table 1. Baseline characteristics.
| Clinical profile | Total (n = 7775) | Incident AF (n = 367) | No AF (n = 7408) | P-value |
| Telomere length | 0.00 (-0.18–0.20) | -0.03 (-0.21–0.13) | 0.00 (-0.18–0.21) | 0.013 |
| Age-years | 49±13 | 62±9 | 48±12 | <0.001 |
| Male sex | 3872 (50%) | 254 (69%) | 3618 (49%) | <0.001 |
| BMI-kg/m2 | 25.6 (23.1–28.4) | 27.5 (25.2–29.9) | 25.5 (23.1–28.3) | <0.001 |
| Obesity | 1210 (16%) | 90 (25%) | 1120 (15%) | <0.001 |
| Systolic blood pressure-mmHg | 129±20 | 143±22 | 128±20 | <0.001 |
| Diastolic blood pressure-mmHg | 74±10 | 79±9 | 74±10 | <0.001 |
| Heart rate-bpm | 69±10 | 67±10 | 69±10 | <0.001 |
| Hypertension | 2093 (27%) | 198(54%) | 1895 (26%) | <0.001 |
| Heart failure | 17 (0.2%) | 6 (1.6%) | 11 (0.1%) | 0.002 |
| Diabetes mellitus | 285 (4%) | 35 (10%) | 250 (3%) | <0.001 |
| Smoking | 3442 (45%) | 143 (39%) | 3299 (45%) | 0.040 |
| Hypercholesterolemia | 333 (4%) | 42 (12%) | 291 (4%) | <0.001 |
| Glucose lowering treatment | 107 (2%) | 11 (3%) | 96 (2%) | 0.020 |
| Lipid lowering treatment | 314 (5%) | 41 (13%) | 273 (4%) | <0.001 |
| Myocardial infarction | 228 (3%) | 50 (14%) | 178 (2%) | <0.001 |
| Stroke | 54 (0.7%) | 8 (2.2%) | 46 (0.6%) | 0.003 |
| Antihypertensive treatment | 1036 (16%) | 131 (41%) | 905 (15%) | <0.001 |
| PR-interval-ms | 158 (143–172) | 168 (153–187) | 158 (143–172) | <0.001 |
| Biomarker profile | Total (n = 7775) | Incident AF (n = 367) | No AF (n = 7408) | P-value |
| eGFR-ml/min/1.73m2 | 80.9±14.5 | 76.6±15.7 | 81.1±14.4 | <0.001 |
| Creatinine-umol/L | 82.0 (73.0–92.0) | 88.0 (77.0–98.0) | 82.0 (73.0–91.0) | <0.001 |
| NTpro-BNP-ng/L | 37.3 (16.6–72.6) | 86.3 (40.8–195.5) | 35.7 (16.0–69.0) | <0.001 |
| hs-CRP -mg/L | 1.27 (0.55–2.94) | 1.97 (0.94–3.66) | 1.25 (0.54–2.89) | <0.001 |
| Glucose-mmol/L | 4.9±1.2 | 5.4±1.7 | 4.9±1.2 | <0.001 |
Data is expressed as mean ± standard deviation, median (interquartile range) or numbers (%). Telomere lengths are divided in quartiles. Abbreviations: AF = atrial fibrillation, BMI = body mass index, eGFR = estimate glomerular filtration rate, hs-CRP = highly sensitive C-reactive protein, NT pro-BNP = N-terminal prohormone of brain natriuretic peptide.