Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease is associated with an increased risk of atrial fibrillation

According to a new meta-analysis, non-alcoholic fatty disease is associated with an increased risk of atrial fibrillation, regardless of common risk factors for atrial fibrillation in the elderly and in the elderly, and the risk is higher in patients with AD type 2.

The researchers included a total of 9 studies involving 364,919 individuals.

Research has also been done on electronic databases to determine whether and to what extent non-alcoholic fatty infiltration is associated with the risk for the appearance and prevalence of atrial fibrillation.

The aggregated results from 5 studies showed that non-alcoholic fatty infiltration was associated with an increased risk of atrial fibrillation regardless of age, gender, body mass index, hypertension, dyslipidaemia and other common risk factors for atrial fibrillation.

A cross-sectional study revealed that this association was much stronger in elderly patients with type 2 diabetes.

The meta-analysis also showed that the presence of non-alcoholic fat filtration was significantly associated with a 10-year increased risk for atrial fibrillation.

The authors suggest that further and larger studies are required, which will have a longer follow-up, but also specific studies to better understand the relationship between non-alcoholic fat filtration and the long-term risk of developing atrial fibrillation.

References

Mantovani A, Dauriz M, Sandri D, Bonapace S, Zoppini G, Tilg H, Byrne CD, Targher G. Association between non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and risk of atrial fibrillation in adult individuals: an updated meta-analysis. Liver Int.2019 Jan 18 [Epub ahead of print]. doi: 10.1111/liv.14044. PMID: 30657626