Elite female endurance athletes are at increased risk of atrial fibrillation compared to the general population: a matched cohort study

OBJECTIVE: Previous studies have found that endurance sport activity is associated with an increased risk of atrial fibrillation (AF) in men. However, it remains unclear whether endurance sports also influence the risk of AF in women. We aimed to examine whether participation in endurance sports may affect the risk of AF in female athletes. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective matched cohort study of top Swedish female endurance athletes (n=228) and reference individuals (n=1368) from the general population using the Swedish Total Population Register individually matched with a 6:1 ratio of female athletes. The athlete cohort was created by combining all Swedish women who ran the Stockholm Marathon faster than 3 hours 15 min in any of the races between 1979 and 1991, all women competing in the Swedish athletic national championships in the 10 000 metre race, and the top-ranked Swedish cyclists during the same period. We used the National Patient Register to determine whether the participants were diagnosed with AF. RESULTS: Mean age at the start of follow-up was 32 (SD±8.5) years. During follow-up (mean 28.8 years; SD±4.4), 33 cases of AF were diagnosed, including 10 (4.4%) among athletes and 23 (1.7%) among references. The HR for female athletes compared with the reference population was 2.56 (95% CI 1.22 to 5.37) in the univariable model and 3.67 (95% CI 1.71 to 7.87) after adjustment for hypertension. CONCLUSION: Elite female endurance athletes are at increased risk of AF than the general population.