Abstract 12369: Dietary Salt Intake is Associated With Atrial Fibrillation

The association of dietary salt and hypertension has been well documented. Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most prevalent cardiac arrhythmia and, due to ageing of the population, its prevalence is rising remarkably. We studied the salt consumption (mg sodium/1000 kcal) as a risk factor for AF in our population-based cohort of 1045 subjects collected in years 1991-1993 (mean age 51.1 years, SD 5.94) with comprehensive baseline characteristics and approximately 19 years follow up. At the baseline, 716 subjects filled in a 1-week food follow-up diary, from which the daily sodium intake was calculated. A previously validated method for diagnosis of AF (atrial flutter included) was used if ICD-10 code I48 was listed in the patients’ medical records at the follow-up visit. AF episodes were observed in 74 subjects ( 10.3 %) during the follow-up. Sodium consumption recorded at the baseline correlated positively with age (r=0.12, p=0.001) and other traditional risk factors of AF (smoking r=0.14, p<0.001; systolic ...