Risk of atrial fibrillation in patients with pneumoconiosis: A nationwide study in Taiwan

BACKGROUND: To investigate the incidence of new‐onset atrial fibrillation (AF) among subjects with pneumoconiosis using the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database. HYPOTHESIS: Pneumoconiosis patients are at an increased risk of AF. METHODS: A total of 12 209 pneumoconiosis patients were in the exposure cohort. Patients without pneumoconiosis were included as the comparison cohort. Both cohorts were matched by gender, age, comorbidity, and index year in a 1:1 manner. Multivariable cox proportional hazard model was used to calculate the adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) after adjustment for age, sex, and all comorbidities. RESULTS: The risk of AF in pneumoconiosis patients was 1.30‐fold higher than that of controls (95% CI = 1.17‐1.44) was the key finding. CONCLUSIONS: Pneumoconiosis is associated with increased risk of incident AF.