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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2022 Jun 1.
Published in final edited form as: Int J Cardiol. 2021 Mar 4;332:70–77. doi: 10.1016/j.ijcard.2021.02.083

Table 1.

Baseline Characteristics of Study Participants by Premature Atrial Contractions Frequency Categories: The Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study.

Total Sample (n=1924) Minimal PAC, <0.1% (n=407) Occasional PAC, ≥0.1% – 5% (n=1419) Frequent PAC, >5% (n=98) p-values
Demographics
Age, years 56.4 ± 4.4 55.2 ± 3.9 56.6 ± 4.5 57.0 ± 4.2 <0.001*
Male sex 785 (40.8) 140 (34.4) 591 (41.7) 54 (55.1) <0.001*
Black race 444 (23.1) 120 (29.5) 301 (21.2) 23 (23.5) 0.5
< High school education, 211 (10.9) 36 (8.9) 161 (11.4) 14 (14.3) 0.73
Current alcohol consumption, 1115 (58.0) 236 (58.0) 815 (57.4) 64 (65.3) 0.14
Clinical Characteristics
Body mass index (kg/m2) 27.7 ± 4.8 27.4 ± 5.0 27.7 ± 4.7 28.2 ± 5.0 0.26
Coronary heart disease 102 (5.3) 24 (5.9) 75 (5.3) 3 (3.1) 0.59
Heart failure 64 (3.3) 10 (2.5) 50 (3.5) 4 (4.1) 0.52
Stroke 258 (13.4) 46 (11.3) 194 (13.7) 18 (18.4) 0.31
LV ejection fraction (%) 65.8 ± 5.5 65.5 ± 5.8 65.9 ± 5.3 65.3 ± 7.2 0.49
LA volume index, ml/m2 24.4 ± 6.6 22.6 ± 5.8 24.7 ± 6.6 27.2 ± 7.5 <0.001*
Beta-blockers 563 (29.3) 124 (30.5) 409 (28.8) 30 (30.6) 0.46
Calcium channel blockers 476 (24.7) 100 (24.6) 350 (24.7) 26 (26.5) 0.54
Anti-arrhythmic drugs 8 (0.4) 2 (0.5) 6 (0.4) 0 (0) 0.35

All categorical variables expressed as n (%)

All continuous variables expressed as mean ± standard deviation.

Baseline at ARIC Visit 3 (1993–95) and PAC burden measured at Visit 6 (2016–17)

Echocardiographic parameters of LA volume index and LV ejection fraction were measured at Visit 5.