Risk of Systemic Autoimmune Diseases with Antiarrhythmic Drugs in Arrhythmia Patients: A Retrospective Cohort Study

Background: The risk factors for Systemic Autoimmune Disease (SAD)s with antiarrhythmic drugs (AAD)s in arrhythmia patients are still unclear. Aims: This study discussed these risk factors for SADs with AADs in arrhythmia patients. Methods: This study was a retrospective cohort design and analyzed this relationship in an Asian population. Patients without a prior diagnosis of SADs were identified from Taiwan's National Health Insurance Research Database from January 1st, 2000, to December 31st, 2013. Cox regression models estimated the hazard ratio (HR) with a 95% confidence interval (CI) of SAD. Results: We estimated the data of participants aged >= 20 or <= 100 years old and free of SADs at baseline. AAD users (n = 138376) had a significantly increased risk of SADs over non-AAD users. There was a significantly higher risk of developing SADs in all age and sex categories. The patients who received AADs, the autoimmune disease with the significantly higher risk was Systemic Lupus Erythematous (SLE) (adjusted HR (aHR) 1.53, 95% CI, 1.04-2.26), Sjogren syndrome (SjS) (For adjusted HR (For aHR) For 2.06 For, 95% CI, 1.59-2.66) and Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) (aHR, 1.57, 95% CI, 1.26-1.94). Conclusion: We concluded that there were statistical associations between AADs and SADs, and the higher incidence was SLE, SjS and RA in arrhythmia patients.