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. 2022 Mar 22;327(12):1138–1148. doi: 10.1001/jama.2022.2518

Figure 2. Restricted Cubic Spline Plotting Dementia Incidence by Left Atrial Reservoir Strain: Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study, 2011-2019 (N = 4096).

Figure 2.

The figure illustrates the nonlinear association between left atrial (LA) reservoir strain and incidence of dementia. The beginning of the steepest part of the curve (as indicated by the orange line) corresponds with LA reservoir strain of 27%. The dark blue line indicates the incidence rate for dementia; gray shading, 95% CIs; blue bars, the percentage of population. Similar analyses for other LA measures are presented in eFigure 3 in the Supplement.

Adjusted for age, sex, race and center, APOE ɛ4 allele, education, body mass index, smoking status, diabetes, systolic blood pressure, antihypertensive medications, coronary heart disease, heart failure, anticoagulant use, incident atrial fibrillation and incident stroke, minimal LA volume index, left ventricular ejection fraction, and left ventricular mass index.

Total events of dementia were 531 in a population of 4096, with median observation time per person of 6 years (IQR, 5.5-6.9 years). Median left atrial reservoir strain was 32.5% (IQR, 28.8%-38.1%). P < .001 refers to the association between LA reservoir strain and dementia incidence.