Association Between Cataract and Risk of Incident Atrial Fibrillation: A Nationwide Population-Based Retrospective Cohort Study

Abstract

Objective: To identify the association between cataract and the subsequent atrial fibrillation (AF) risk.

Patients and methods: Our retrospective cohort study was designed to analyze the Longitudinal Health Insurance Database 2000 of the Taiwan National Health Insurance program. We established a cataract cohort (n=39,347) and a noncataract cohort (n=39,347) to observe the incidence of AF. The cataract cohort included patients who were newly diagnosed with cataract from January 1, 2000, to December 31, 2010. Propensity score matching was used to form matched sets of participants with cataract and participants without cataract who share a similar value of propensity score. Univariable and multivariable Cox proportional hazards regression models were used to assess the association between having a cataract and AF.

Results: The median (range) follow-up period was 6.52 years (range, 3.76-9.19 years) and 5.88 years (range, 3.12-8.66 years) for the cataract and noncataract cohorts, respectively; the cumulative incidence curves of AF indicated that the cataract cohort had a significantly higher risk of developing AF than did the noncataract cohort (P<.001). Moreover, the risk of AF was 1.32-fold (95% CI, 1.18-1.48) higher in patients with cataract with surgery and was 1.21-fold (95% CI, 1.06-1.37) higher in patients with cataract without surgery than in patients without cataract.

Conclusion: The present study is the first to report that cataract is associated with an increased risk of AF.