Familial atrial fibrillation predicts increased risk of mortality: A study in Danish twins

Ingrid Elisabeth Christophersen, Esben Budtz-Joergensen, Morten S. Olesen, Stig Haunsø, Kaare Christensen, Jesper Hastrup Svendsen

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Abstract

Background- Atrial fibrillation (AF) is a common arrhythmia. Several studies have shown association of genetic variants with AF and that familial AF increases the risk of AF. We have previously shown a substantial heritability of AF in a twin study. The objective of this study was to determine whether having a co-twin with AF influences mortality. Methods and Results- We identified all Danish twins with AF born during and after 1912 in the Danish Twin Registry, the National Patient Registry, and the Central Office of Civil Registration. For each twin, we randomly identified 4 twins without AF, matched on sex, zygosity, and age. We compared survival among the co-twins of the affected twins (co-cases, n=2164) and the co-twins of the unaffected twins (co-controls, n=8626). The co-cases showed increased death rates compared with the co-controls (hazard ratio, 1.20; 95% confidence interval, 1.11-1.30; P
Original languageEnglish
JournalCirculation: Arrhythmia and Electrophysiology
Volume6
Issue number1
Pages (from-to)10-15
Number of pages6
ISSN1941-3149
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2013

Keywords

  • Atrial fibrillation
  • Epidemiology
  • Genetics
  • Mortality
  • Twin study

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