Dietary sodium intake is associated with long-term risk of new-onset atrial fibrillation

Background: The association between dietary salt intake and hypertension has been well documented. We evaluated the association between dietary sodium intake and the incidence of new-onset atrial fibrillation (AF) during a mean follow-up of 19 years among 716 subjects from the Oulu Project Elucidating Risk of Atherosclerosis (OPERA) cohort. Material and methods: Dietary sodium intake was evaluated from a seven-day food record. The diagnosis of AF (atrial flutter included) was made if ICD-10 code I48 was listed in the hospital discharge records during follow-up. Results: In the Kaplan-Meier curves, when quartiles of sodium consumption were considered, the cumulative proportional probabilities for AF events were higher in the highest (4th) quartile (16.8%) than in the lower quartiles (1st 6.7%, 2nd 7.3% and 3rd 10.6%) (p = .003). In the Cox regression analysis, sodium consumption (g/1000 kcal) as a continuous variable was independently associated with AF events (Hazard Ratio = 2.1 (95% CI, 1.2 to 3.7) p =.015) when age, body mass index, smoking (pack-years), office systolic blood pressure, left atrium diameter, left ventricular mass index and the use of any antihypertensive therapy were added as covariates. Conclusions: These findings indicate that sodium intake is associated with the long-term risk of new-onset AF. Further confirmatory studies are needed. Key messages Sodium consumption correlated positively with CV risk factors: age, smoking, SBP, BMI and LDL-cholesterol. When quartiles of sodium consumption were considered, the AF incidence was higher in the highest quartile compared to lower quartiles. Sodium consumption as a continuous variable was independently associated with AF events when age, BMI, smoking, SBP, LAD, LVMI and the use of any antihypertensive therapy were considered.