The micro-albuminuria is a new predictor of atrial fibrillation in hypertensive patients

Hypertension increases the risk of atrial fibrillation by about twofold. Micro-albuminuria is an independent predictor of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality in patients with atrial fibrillation. The aim of this work was to investigate the relationship between micro-albuminuria 1 (MAU) and occurrence of atrial fibrillation in patients with arterial hypertension. Our study was conducted in Cardiology Department, Zagazig University. We recruited 300 consecutive patients with newly diagnosed hypertension from outpatient clinics. In this prospective study, we checked for micro-albuminuria (MAU) 1 at presentation. Then a follow up for 6 months to all cases to elicit any documented attack(s) of paroxysmal or persistent atrial fibrillation. Then patients were classified according to development of AF into Group I (patients who did not develop AF during 6 months after diagnosis of hypertension) (230 patients) and Group II (patients who developed AF during 6 months after diagnosis of hypertension) (70 patients). The micro-albuminuria was the strongest predictor to develop AF in our cases as the upper and lower “confidence interval” CI was (0.138–0.014) with high significant difference (p < 0.001), odds ratio = 0.051. Systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure and heart rate were significant (p < 0.05) but less powerful than micro-albuminuria to predict the occurrence of AF. Micro-albuminuria was the strongest predictor of AF in hypertensive patients. The early detection and treatment of micro-albuminuria is accompanied by an improved cardiovascular prognosis in hypertensive patients and prevent new onset of atrial fibrillation.