Association Between Blood Lipid Profiles and Atrial Fibrillation: A Case-Control Study

BACKGROUND: Dyslipidemia is the most frequent comorbidity in patients with cardiovascular disease. However, studies examining the relationship between blood lipid profiles and AF have produced inconsistent results. MATERIAL/METHODS: A total of 651 patients were enrolled into 3 groups: Healthy controls (n=64), Paroxysmal AF (PAF; n=270), and Continuous AF (CAF; n=317). All enrolled patients underwent routine baseline 12-lead electrocardiography (ECG) and 24-h dynamic ECG along with blood testing, which included the following: complete metabolic panel, hepatic function, renal function, circulating thyroxine, fasting high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), triglycerides (TG), and total cholesterol (TC). RESULTS: Patients with AF had significantly higher levels of triglycerides (TG), lower levels of LDL-C-c, and lower levels of HDL-C (p<0.05). TC (OR 0.979, p<0.9247) and TG (OR 0.945, p<0.6496) were negatively and linearly associated with PAF, while TG (OR 0.807, p=0.2042), LDL-C (OR 0.334, p=0.0036), and HDL-C (OR 0.136, p=0.0002) were negatively and linearly associated with CAF. CONCLUSIONS: Compared to healthy controls, patients with AF had lower blood lipid levels, especially LDL-c and HDL-c levels. Hypolipoproteinemia may increase patient susceptibility to developing AF.