Impact of pre‐existing hypertension and control status before atrial fibrillation onset on cardiovascular prognosis in patients with non‐valvular atrial fibrillation: A real‐world database analysis in Japan

Hypertension is an important risk factor for non-valvular atrial fibrillation (NVAF) and its prognosis. However, there is no study to clarify the impact of pre-existing hypertension and BP control status before the onset of AF on the prognosis after the onset of AF. This retrospective real-world cohort analysis used data from the Japan Medical Data Center Co., Ltd database. The presence of NVAF and hypertension, plus the occurrence of adverse events, was based on ICD-10 codes in the database. The primary composite AF-related cardiovascular event end point included ischemic stroke, hemorrhagic stroke, and acute myocardial infarction. Of the 21 523 patients identified as having new-onset NVAF between January 2005 and June 2016, 7885 had blood pressure (BP) data before the onset of NVAF available and were included in the analysis (4001 with pre-existing hypertension and 3884 without pre-existing hypertension). The rate of primary composite end point events was 10.3 and 4.4 per 1000 patient-years in patients with and without hypertension, respectively (P < .001). In addition, lower systolic BP (<120 mm Hg) before the onset of NVAF was associated with a lower incidence of cardiovascular events after the development of NVAF (P < .001). This highlights the importance of earlier and tighter 24-hour BP control before the onset of NVAF in patients with hypertension, not only for reducing the occurrence of new-onset of NVAF, but also for reducing both hemorrhagic and ischemic cardiovascular events after the onset of NVAF.