Influence of abdominal obesity and habitual behaviors on incident atrial fibrillation in Japanese

Abstract Background As atrial fibrillation (AF) increases with the aging of the population, it is urgently required to clarify modifiable factors to prevent AF. However, evidence regarding the independent influence of abdominal-obesity and habitual behaviors on incident AF is limited among Japanese. Methods and Results Those aged 40–79 years undergoing periodic health checkups during 2008–2014 were followed-up in 2015 ( n  = 96,841) and the independent risk of incident AF was estimated using multivariate Cox proportional hazards regression models after adjustment for potential covariates. Participants were classified into four groups according to the baseline body mass index (BMI: kg/m 2 ) (normal-BMI or overweight: Conclusions Abdominal-obesity could be a crucial risk factor in prediction of AF in Japanese, and an aggregation of four behavioral factors increased the risk of AF almost three times. To prevent incident AF, practicing healthy habitual behaviors is recommended.