Predictive value of echocardiographic left atrial size for incident stoke and stroke cause mortality: a population-based study

Objectives To investigate the associations between echocardiographic left atrial (LA) size and incident stoke and stroke cause mortality among a rural population in China. Design A prospective study. Setting and participants Based on the Northeast China Rural Cardiovascular Health Study, we selected a total of 10 041 participants aged ≥35 years who agreed to have transthoracic echocardiography at baseline and were successfully followed up for incident stoke and stroke cause mortality. Primary outcome measure The outcomes were stroke and stroke cause death according to medical records and death certificates during the follow-up period. Results LA enlargement (LAE) group had a higher prevalence of cardiovascular disease than normal LA diameter (LAD) group. After excluding individuals who had a prior stroke, subjects with LAE showed higher incident rates of stroke and its mortality in the overall and specific stratified analyses (all p Conclusions Our population-based study implied that LA size, especially LAD and LAD/BSA, might be useful echocardiographic biomarkers that had the potential to predict incident stroke and stroke cause mortality.