Levothyroxine treatment and incident dementia in adults with atrial fibrillation

OBJECTIVE: Levothyroxine treatment is common among older adults as is atrial fibrillation (AF), yet less is known about its potential effects on the development of dementia. METHODS: The study population included all adults with diagnosed AF (n = 156,104) aged ≥ 45 years in Sweden without an earlier recorded diagnosis of dementia. Individuals with a dispensed prescription of levothyroxine on two or more occasions between July 1 2005 and December 31 2006 in Sweden were considered exposed (n = 12,978; 8.3%), and were compared to all other patients with AF without this treatment. Cox regression with hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence interval (95% CI), with outcome defined as dementia of all causes between January 1, 2007 and December 31, 2015, was used in the analysis. Adjustments were made for socio-demographic factors (age, immigration status, marital status, educational level, neighborhood socioeconomic status), co-morbidity (cardiovascular disease, obesity, diabetes, COPD, depression, anxiety and alcohol related diagnoses), and cardiovascular medications. RESULTS: During follow-up, a total of 9054 patients with AF were diagnosed with dementia (5.8%). We found no significant association of levothyroxine treatment and incident dementia, fully adjusted HR 1.03 (95% CI 0.96–1.11), neither among men and women, nor in different age-groups or subgroups of dementia. CONCLUSION: We found no significant association of levothyroxine treatment and incident dementia among patients with AF, which contrasts some earlier findings. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1007/s40520-019-01217-3) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.