Atrial Fibrillation Increases the Risk of Peripheral Arterial Disease With Relative Complications and Mortality: A Population-Based Cohort Study

Atrial fibrillation (AF), an increasing prevalent cardiac arrhythmia due to aging general population, has many common risk factors with peripheral arterial disease (PAD). However, it is unclear whether AF is associated with a risk of PAD. We investigated the prevalence of AF and PAD in the general population and the risk of PAD among the AF population. This longitudinal, nationwide, population-based cohort study was conducted using data from the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database recorded during 2000 to 2011. In total, 3814 and 15,364 patients were included in the AF and non-AF cohorts, respectively. Univariate and multivariate Cox proportional hazard regression models were used for examining the effects of AF on the risk of outcomes. The average follow-up periods of PAD were 4.96 ± 3.28 and 5.29 ± 3.35 years for the AF and non-AF cohorts, respectively. Overall, the risk of PAD showed a significantly higher risk in the AF cohort (adjusted HR=1.31, 95% CI=1.19–1.45) compared with the non-AF cohort. Similar results were observed for heart failure and stroke, where the AF cohort had a 1.83-fold and 2.53-fold higher risk of developing heart failure and stroke. The AF cohort also had a significant increased risk for mortality (adjusted HR=1.66, 95% CI=1.49–1.84). The present study indicated that the incidence of PAD, heart failure, stroke, and overall mortality is higher in patients with AF than in those without it.