Smoking, drinking alcohol and obesity are related to diseases such as heart disease and damage to blood vessels. They are also related to social class and income. As these risks are preventable, and as they can be influenced by public health policies, we aim to look at them in relation to a common heart condition called atrial fibrillation. Atrial fibrillation is the commonest cause of irregular heartbeats and a common cause of stroke (a serious medical condition that occurs when the blood supply to part of the brain is cut off).
The reason for doing this research is that atrial fibrillation is increasing and it often requires treatment with blood thinning drugs and therefore is a significant burden; yet for some people it may be preventable by changing our smoking and alcohol drinking habits and by losing weight. The results may help demonstrate potentially correctable risk factors associated with atrial fibrillation. Education about these risk factors may result in a reduction in these risks and the risk of atrial fibrillation.
Lifestyle related factors such as smoking, alcohol consumption and obesity affect the risk of developing cardiovascular diseases and other related conditions such as high blood pressure and atherosclerosis1-4. Socio-economic status is also related to many of these risks and to cardiovascular disease.
This study aims to investigate lifestyle and socio-economic risk factors for non-valvular atrial fibrillation (AF).
Therefore a population-based case-control study will be performed using patients with AF as cases and age- and gender matched patients without AF as controls.
The relationship between lifestyle/socio-economic factors and AF will be estimated using crude and adjusted odds ratios from conditional logistic regression models.
Non-valvular atrial fibrillation.
Alexander Cohen - Chief Investigator - King's College London (KCL)
Alexander Cohen - Corresponding Applicant - King's College London (KCL)
Carlos Martinez - Collaborator - Institute for Epidemiology, Statistics and Informatics GmbH (Pharma Epi)
Catalin Adrian Buzea - Collaborator - Carol Davila University of Medicine and Pharmacy
Christopher Wallenhorst - Collaborator - Institute for Epidemiology, Statistics and Informatics GmbH (Pharma Epi)
Jeffrey Weitz - Collaborator - McMaster University
Leopoldo Pagliani - Collaborator - University of Padova
Mario Santos - Collaborator - Hospital Santo Antonio, Centro Hospitalar do Porto
Rui Providencia - Collaborator - St Bartholomew's Hospital
Tiago Gregorio - Collaborator - University of Porto Faculty of Medicine
HES Admitted Patient Care;HES Admitted Patient Care;HES Outpatient;HES Outpatient;Patient Level Index of Multiple Deprivation;Patient Level Index of Multiple Deprivation