Table 1.
Clinical characteristics of patients that were stratified into three groups according to tertiles of the Fibrosis-4 index.
| Item | First Tertile FIB4 < 1.75 (n = 1022) |
Second Tertile 1.75 < FIB4 < 2.51 (n = 1022) |
Third Tertile FIB4 ≥ 2.51 (n = 1023) |
p Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Age (years) | 65 ± 9 | 72 ± 7* | 77 ± 7*,† | <0.001 |
| Male (percentage) | 786 (76) | 737 (72) | 737 (72) | 0.015 |
| BMI (kg/m2) | 24.8 ± 3.9 | 23.9 ± 3.5* | 23.3 ± 3.6*,† | <0.001 |
| AF type | <0.001 | |||
| Paroxysmal AF | 464 (45) | 371 (36) | 285 (27) | - |
| Persistent AF | 202 (19) | 229 (22) | 252 (24) | - |
| LS-AF | 348 (34) | 416 (40) | 476 (46) | - |
| Unknown | 8 (0.7) | 6 (0.5) | 10 (0.9) | - |
| Hypertension | 724 (70) | 732 (71) | 730 (71) | 0.92 |
| Diabetes mellitus | 235 (23) | 224 (21) | 236 (23) | 0.78 |
| Heart failure | 204 (19) | 215 (21) | 267 (26) | 0.002 |
| Vascular disease | 116 (11) | 126 (12) | 136 (13) | 0.40 |
| Stroke or TIA | 104 (10) | 117 (11) | 124 (12) | 0.36 |
| Major bleeding | 11 (1) | 6 (0.5) | 13 (1) | 0.24 |
| AF ablation | 153 (15) | 71 (7) | 43 (4) | <0.001 |
| Antiplatelet use | 152 (14) | 170 (16) | 165 (16) | 0.53 |
| NSAID use | 22 (2) | 19 (1) | 10 (1) | 0.08 |
| DOAC use | 588 (57) | 518 (51) | 502 (49) | <0.001 |
| Warfarin use | 434 (42) | 504 (49) | 521 (51) | <0.001 |
| CHADS2 score | 1.5 ± 1.0 | 1.8 ± 1.1* | 2.0 ± 1.1*,† | <0.001 |
| CHA2DS2-VASc score | 2.4 ± 1.4 | 3.0 ± 1.4* | 3.4 ± 1.3*,† | <0.001 |
| HAS-BLED score | 1.2 ± 0.9 | 1.4 ± 0.8* | 1.5 ± 0.7*,† | <0.001 |
| Hemoglobin (g/dL) | 14.1 ± 1.6 | 13.7 ± 1.6* | 13.3 ± 1.7*,† | <0.001 |
| Platelets (×103/μL) | 24.4 ± 5.2 | 19.8 ± 3.3* | 15.6 ± 3.3*,† | <0.001 |
| BUN (mg/dL) | 16.6 ± 7.0 | 17.9 ± 8.1* | 18.8 ± 7.0*,† | <0.001 |
| Creatinine (mg/dL) | 0.90 ± 0.43 | 0.95 ± 0.42* | 0.95 ± 0.34* | <0.001 |
| CrCl (mL/min) | 81 ± 29 | 64 ± 22* | 57 ± 21*,† | <0.001 |
| AST (IU/L) | 22 ± 7 | 25 ± 8* | 31 ± 18*,† | <0.001 |
| ALT (IU/L) | 22 ± 7 | 25 ± 8* | 31 ± 18* | <0.001 |
Values are shown as the mean ± SD or n (%). * p < 0.05 vs. First tertile, † p < 0.05 vs. Second tertile. LF: liver fibrosis; BMI: body mass index; LS-AF: long-standing persistent AF lasting more than 1 year; TIA: transient ischemic attack; NSAID: non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug; DOAC: direct oral anticoagulant; CHADS2: congestive heart failure, hypertension, age ≥ 75 years, diabetes and stroke; CHA2DS2-VASc: congestive heart failure, hypertension, age ≥ 75 years, diabetes, stroke, vascular disease, age 65–74 years, and male; HAS-BLED: uncontrolled hypertension (baseline systolic blood pressure >160 mmHg), abnormal renal function (serum creatinine ≥ 2.26 mg/dL)/liver function (chronic hepatic disease [e.g., cirrhosis] or aspartate aminotransferase and/or alanine aminotransferase > 3 times normal range), stroke, prior major bleeding, elderly (age ≥ 65 years), drug use (alcohol/antiplatelet or NSAID); CrCl: creatinine clearance; BUN: blood urea nitrogen; AST: aspartate aminotransferase; ALT: alanine aminotransferase.