Kaiser Permanente study finds association between diabetes and atrial fibrillation
Diabetes increases by 26 percent the likelihood that women will develop atrial fibrillation (AF), a potentially dangerous irregular heart rhythm that can lead to stroke, heart failure, and chronic fatigue. These are the findings of a new Kaiser Permanente study, published in the October issue of Diabetes Care, a journal of the American Diabetes Association.
While other studies have found that patients with diabetes are more likely to have AF, this is the first large study-involving nearly 35,000 Kaiser Permanente patients over the course of seven years-to isolate the effect of diabetes and determine that it is an independent risk factor for women.
The most important finding from our study is that women with diabetes have an increased risk of developing this abnormal heart rhythm,- said the study-s lead author, Greg Nichols, PhD, investigator at the Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research in Portland, Ore. -Men with diabetes are also at higher risk, but the association between the two conditions is not as strong. For men, obesity and high blood pressure are bigger risk factors from diabetes.-
AF is the most common arrhythmia in the world, and diabetes is one of the most common and costly health conditions. Our study points out that there is a connection between these two growing epidemics-one we should pay closer attention to, especially among women,- says Sumeet Chugh, MD, co-author and associate director of the Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute in Los Angeles. -The gender differences need to be looked at more closely because they could have significant implications for how we treat diabetes in men and women.-