ArticleAnnals of global health2021
Very Low Prevalence and Incidence of Atrial Fibrillation among Bolivian Forager-Farmers.
Article in Annals of global health, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 22 citations in OpenAlex.
- A systematic review of foraging as lifestyle, livelihood, and landscape management strategy.Ambio · 2026Pooled it
- Blood Pressure Changes During Aging and Menopause Among Forager-Horticulturalists in the Bolivian Amazon.American journal of biological anthropology · 2026Article
- The role of Western diet and gut microbiota in the pathogenesis of cardiovascular diseases.Frontiers in microbiology · 2026Review
- Prevalence of Neurocognitive Disorders in the Elderly Quechua Population Using the Q-RUDAS.Brain sciences · 2025Article
- Ectopic adipose tissue in subsistence populations with minimal coronary disease, large left atria, and very low rates of atrial fibrillation.American journal of preventive cardiology · 2025Article
- Arterial Stiffness in Heart-Healthy Indigenous Tsimane Forager-Horticulturalists.Journal of the American Heart Association · 2025Article
- Driving research on successful aging and neuroprotection in Latin America: Insights from the inaugural symposium on brain resilience and healthy longevity.Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association · 2025Review
- Higher blood lipid levels after the transition to menopause in two forager-horticulturalist populations.Evolution, medicine, and public health · 2025Article
- History of Senile Dementia from the Antiquity to the Beginning of the Modern Age.Current Alzheimer research · 2025Review
- Energetic costs of testosterone in two subsistence populations.American journal of human biology : the official journal of the Human Biology Council · 2023Article
- Natural selection of immune and metabolic genes associated with health in two lowland Bolivian populations.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2023Article
- Prevalence of dementia and mild cognitive impairment in indigenous Bolivian forager-horticulturalists.Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association · 2023Article
- The Indigenous South American Tsimane Exhibit Relatively Modest Decrease in Brain Volume With Age Despite High Systemic Inflammation.The journals of gerontology. Series A, Biological sciences and medical sciences · 2021Article
- Atrial fibrillation.Nature reviews. Disease primers · 2016Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
23 authors at 16 institutions in 7 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Background: Atrial fibrillation is the most common arrhythmia in post-industrialized populations. Older age, hypertension, obesity, chronic inflammation, and diabetes are significant atrial fibrillation risk factors, suggesting that modern urban environments may promote atrial fibrillation. Objective: Here we assess atrial fibrillation prevalence and incidence among tropical horticulturalists of the Bolivian Amazon with high levels of physical activity, a lean diet, and minimal coronary atherosclerosis, but also high infectious disease burden and associated inflammation. Methods: Between 2005-2019, 1314 Tsimane aged 40-94 years (52% female) and 534 Moseten Amerindians aged 40-89 years (50% female) underwent resting 12-lead electrocardiograms to assess atrial fibrillation prevalence. For atrial fibrillation incidence assessment, 1059 (81% of original sample) Tsimane and 310 Moseten (58%) underwent additional ECGs (mean time to follow up 7.0, 1.8 years, respectively). Findings: Only one (male) of 1314 Tsimane (0.076%) and one (male) of 534 Moseten (0.187%) demonstrated atrial fibrillation at baseline. There was one new (female) Tsimane case in 7395 risk years for the 1059 participants with >1 ECG (incidence rate = 0.14 per 1,000 risk years). No new cases were detected among Moseten, based on 542 risk years. Conclusion: Tsimane and Moseten show the lowest levels of atrial fibrillation ever reported, 1/20 to ~1/6 of rates in high-income countries. These findings provide additional evidence that a subsistence lifestyle with high levels of physical activity, and a diet low in processed carbohydrates and fat is cardioprotective, despite frequent infection-induced inflammation. Findings suggest that atrial fibrillation is a modifiable lifestyle disease rather than an inevitable feature of cardiovascular aging.
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Registered trials
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