Uric Acid and Risk of Atrial Fibrillation in the Korean General Population

Background: Increased serum uric acid is associated with prevalence and incidence of atrial fibrillation (AF), but there is a lack of studies on the association between serum uric acid and risk of AF in the general population. Methods and Results: We used the data from the Kangbuk Samsung Hospital health screening cohort recorded between 2002 and 2015. The primary outcome was incidence of AF diagnosed on 12-lead electrocardiography. We analyzed and compared the hazard ratios (HR) according to baseline serum uric acid quartiles. The present study involved 282,473 subjects without baseline AF. Mean follow-up was 5.4 +/- 3.6 years. During follow-up, AF was identified in 365 subjects (cumulative incidence, 0.13%). After multivariable adjustment, including that for C-reactive protein, the risk of AF was significantly higher in the upper 2 quartiles than in the lowest quartile in men (upper third quartile: adjusted HR, 1.53; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.11-2.89; highest quartile: HR, 1.60; 95% CI: 1.13-2.25). In women, even though AF incidence rate was very low (0.6 of 10,000 person-years), the risk of AF in the highest quartile was 6.93-fold that in the lowest quartile (95% CI: 1.53-31.29). Conclusions: Serum uric acid is significantly and positively associated with incident AF in the Korean general population.