Do echocardiographic parameters predict the risk of nonrheumatic atrial fibrillation in an elderly population-based sample?
Echocardiographic parameters such as left atrial enlargement and left ventricular structural/functional changes provide independent prognostic value for predicting incident nonrheumatic atrial fibrillation in elderly patients.
In this elderly, population-based sample, left atrial enlargement, increased left ventricular wall thickness, and reduced left ventricular fractional shortening were predictive of risk for nonrheumatic atrial fibrillation. These echocardiographic precursors offer prognostic information beyond that provided by traditional clinical atrial fibrillation risk factors.
Vaziri et al. (Tue,) studied this question.
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