Evidence map›Paper›PMID 28229164›Full record

SynthesisThrombosis and haemostasis2017

Are cardiovascular risk factors also associated with the incidence of atrial fibrillation? A systematic review and field synopsis of 23 factors in 32 population-based cohorts of 20 million participants.

Victoria Allan, Shohreh Honarbakhsh, Juan-Pablo Casas, Joshua Wallace, Ross Hunter, Richard Schilling, Pablo Perel, Katherine Morley, Amitava Banerjee, Harry Hemingway

Open access · hybridAbstract readSystematic Review
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Synthesis in Thrombosis and haemostasis, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 85 papers, 6 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
85citing papers in PubMed, 6 pooled it
11.1field-weighted citation impact, top 1% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

85 citing papers in PubMed, 6 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 177 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Impact of catheter ablation timing according to duration of atrial fibrillation history on arrhythmia recurrences and clinical outcomes: a meta-analysis.Europace : European pacing, arrhythmias, and cardiac electrophysiology : journal of the working groups on cardiac pacing, arrhythmias, and cardiac cellular electrophysiology of the European Society of Cardiology · 2025
    Pooled it
  2. Guideline
  3. Guideline
  4. Pooled it
  5. 2017 HRS/EHRA/ECAS/APHRS/SOLAECE expert consensus statement on catheter and surgical ablation of atrial fibrillation.Europace : European pacing, arrhythmias, and cardiac electrophysiology : journal of the working groups on cardiac pacing, arrhythmias, and cardiac cellular electrophysiology of the European Society of Cardiology · 2018
    Guideline
  6. 2012 HRS/EHRA/ECAS expert consensus statement on catheter and surgical ablation of atrial fibrillation: recommendations for patient selection, procedural techniques, patient management and follow-up, definitions, endpoints, and research trial design: a report of the Heart Rhythm Society (HRS) Task Force on Catheter and Surgical Ablation of Atrial Fibrillation. Developed in partnership with the European Heart Rhythm Association (EHRA), a registered branch of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) and the European Cardiac Arrhythmia Society (ECAS); and in collaboration with the American College of Cardiology (ACC), American Heart Association (AHA), the Asia Pacific Heart Rhythm Society (APHRS), and the Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS). Endorsed by the governing bodies of the American College of Cardiology Foundation, the American Heart Association, the European Cardiac Arrhythmia Society, the European Heart Rhythm Association, the Society of Thoracic Surgeons, the Asia Pacific Heart Rhythm Society, and the Heart Rhythm Society.Heart rhythm · 2012
    Guideline
  7. Article
  8. Article
  9. Cardiovascular Toxicity of BTKi in Chronic B-Cell Malignancies.Reviews in cardiovascular medicine · 2026
    Review
  10. Article
  11. Article
  12. Article
  13. Review
  14. Article
  15. Domestic water hardness, genetic risk, and distinct phenotypes of cardiovascular disease.Environmental health : a global access science source · 2025
    Article
  16. Article
  17. Article
  18. Article
  19. Article
  20. Article

25 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

10 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.

Victoria Allan
Shohreh Honarbakhsh
Juan-Pablo Casas
Joshua Wallace
Ross Hunter
Richard Schilling
Pablo Perel
Katherine Morley
Amitava Banerjee
Harry HemingwayProf. Harry Hemingway, Farr Institute of Health Informatics Research, University College London, 222 Euston Road, London NW1 2AD, UK, Tel.: +44 20 35495329, E-mail: h.hemingway@ucl.ac.uk.
Farr Institute · GBSt Bartholomew's Hospital · GBKing's College London · GBLondon School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine · GB

Funding

Arthritis Research UKBritish Heart FoundationCancer Research UKChief Scientist OfficeMedical Research Council G0902393Medical Research Council MR/K006584/1Wellcome Trust
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Established primary prevention strategies of cardiovascular diseases are based on understanding of risk factors, but whether the same risk factors are associated with atrial fibrillation (AF) remains unclear. We conducted a systematic review and field synopsis of the associations of 23 cardiovascular risk factors and incident AF, which included 84 reports based on 28 consented and four electronic health record cohorts of 20,420,175 participants and 576,602 AF events. We identified 3-19 reports per risk factor and heterogeneity in AF definition, quality of reporting, and adjustment. We extracted relative risks (RR) and 95 % confidence intervals [CI] and visualised the number of reports with inverse (RR [CI]<1.00), or direct (RR [CI]>1.00) associations. For hypertension (13/17 reports) and obesity (19/19 reports), there were direct associations with incident AF, as there are for coronary heart disease (CHD). There were inverse associations for non-White ethnicity (5/5 reports, with RR from 0.35 to 0.84 [0.82-0.85]), total cholesterol (4/13 reports from 0.76 [0.59-0.98] to 0.94 [0.90-0.97]; 8/13 reports with non-significant inverse associations), and diastolic blood pressure (2/11 reports from 0.87 [0.78-0.96] to 0.92 [0.85-0.99]; 5/11 reports with non-significant inverse associations), and direct associations for taller height (7/10 reports from 1.03 [1.02-1.05] to 1.92 [1.38-2.67]), which are in the opposite direction of known associations with CHD. A systematic evaluation of the available evidence suggests similarities as well as important differences in the risk factors for incidence of AF as compared with other cardiovascular diseases, which has implications for the primary prevention strategies for atrial fibrillation.

Indexed as

AdultAgedAged, 80 and overAtrial FibrillationBiomarkersBlood PressureBody HeightCardiovascular DiseasesComorbidityDyslipidemiasFemaleHumansHypertensionIncidenceLife StyleLipidsBiomarkersLipidsAtrial fibrillationcardiovascular diseaseclinical guidelinesprimary preventionrisk factors

Identifiers

PMID28229164
PMCPMC5442605
OpenAlexW2591270263

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.