Table 3.
Clinical characteristics of study population by AF prevalence and sex
| Men | Women | |||||
| AF (n=121) |
Without AF (n=1778) | P value | AF (n=44) |
Without AF (n=1763) |
P value | |
| Height, cm | 180.4±6.7 | 178.8±6.5 | <0.01 | 168.7±7.0 | 165.3±5.9 | <0.001 |
| Weight, kg | 94.0±15.7 | 88.3±13.6 | <0.001 | 79.6±16.5 | 72.8±13.4 | <0.01 |
| BMI | 28.9±4.9 | 27.6±3.9 | <0.01 | 27.9±5.6 | 26.6±4.7 | 0.07 |
| Obesity (BMI ≥30) | 52 (43.0) | 405 (22.8) | <0.001 | 17 (38.6) | 365 (20.7) | <0.01 |
| Waist circumference, cm | 103.4±12.9 | 99.3±11.0 | 0.001 | 93.3±12.7 | 87.7±12.4 | <0.01 |
| Hip circumference, cm | 104.0±9.6 | 101.5±6.8 | <0.01 | 105.5±9.6 | 102.1±9.2 | 0.01 |
| Waist to hip ratio | 0.99±0.08 | 0.97±0.07 | 0.02 | 0.88±0.07 | 0.85±0.08 | 0.04 |
| Body surface area, m2 | 2.16±0.19 | 2.09±0.18 | <0.001 | 1.92±0.22 | 1.82±0.18 | <0.01 |
| Hypertension | 101 (83.5) | 1152 (64.8) | <0.001 | 37 (84.1) | 1007 (57.2) | <0.001 |
| Myocardial infarction | 18 (14.9) | 123 (6.9) | 0.001 | 0 (0) | 17 (1.0) | 0.51 |
| Coronary heart disease | 28 (23.1) | 191 (10.7) | <0.001 | 0 (0) | 44 (2.5) | 0.29 |
| Heart failure | 13 (10.7) | 30 (1.7) | <0.001 | 3 (6.8) | 14 (0.8) | <0.001 |
| Stroke/TIA | 9 (7.4) | 86 (4.8) | 0.20 | 3 (6.8) | 42 (2.4) | 0.06 |
| Diabetes mellitus | 13 (10.7) | 207 (11.6) | 0.76 | 4 (9.1) | 93 (5.3) | 0.27 |
| Reduced eGFR | 11 (9.1) | 54 (3.1) | <0.001 | 5 (11.4) | 73 (4.2) | 0.02 |
| Obstructive sleep apnoea | 15 (12.4) | 156 (8.8) | 0.18 | 3 (6.8) | 54 (3.1) | 0.16 |
| No comorbidity* | 15 (12.4) | 455 (25.6) | 0.001 | 6 (13.6) | 594 (33.7) | <0.01 |
| Hospitalisation last 12 months | 28 (23.1) | 201 (11.3) | <0.001 | 16 (36.4) | 204 (11.6) | <0.001 |
| Current daily smoking | 10 (8.3) | 249 (14.1) | 0.08 | 8 (18.2) | 265 (15.2) | 0.58 |
| Familial AF† | 31 (25.6) | 272 (15.3) | <0.01 | 25 (56.8) | 408 (23.1) | <0.001 |
| Higher education‡ | 61 (50.4) | 889 (50.2) | 0.97 | 18 (40.9) | 745 (42.3) | 0.85 |
| Physical activity level | ||||||
| Inactive | 30 (25.6) | 390 (22.3) | 0.40 | 11 (25.6) | 259 (15.1) | 0.06 |
| Low/medium | 55 (47.0) | 960 (54.9) | 0.10 | 27 (62.8) | 1129 (65.9) | 0.67 |
| High | 32 (27.4) | 399 (22.8) | 0.26 | 5 (11.6) | 325 (19.0) | 0.22 |
| Heart rate§ | 56±8 | 61±10 | <0.001 | 59±8 | 65±10 | <0.01 |
| PQ interval¶ | 185±29 | 175±27 | <0.01 | 182±44 | 165±25 | 0.04 |
| QRS duration¶ | 105±22 | 98±14 | <0.01 | 90±14 | 88±10 | 0.28 |
Categorical variables are reported as counts with percentages in parentheses. Continuous variables are reported as mean±SD. P values indicate difference between AF and non-AF (within each sex).
*No comorbidity: neither hypertension, coronary heart disease, heart failure, stroke, diabetes, reduced eGFR, obstructive sleep apnoea nor obesity.
†Familial AF: self-report of at least one first-degree relative with known AF.
‡Higher education: ≥12 years of formal education.
§Heart rate: beats per minute in 12-lead ECG.
¶PQ interval and QRS duration are reported in ms. For heart rate, PQ interval and QRS duration, all subjects with AF in study ECG were excluded (n=60).
AF, atrial fibrillation; BMI, body mass index, kg/m2; eGFR, estimated glomerular filtration rate; TIA, transient ischaemic attack.