Background: Cigarette smoking is an important risk factor for
cardiovascular disease, but it is unknown whether it also contributes
to the risk of atrial fibrillation.
Methods and results: The study is part of the Rotterdam Study, a
population-based cohort study among subjects aged ¡Ý55 years. The
association between cigarette smoking and the risk of atrial
fibrillation was examined in 5,668 subjects without atrial
fibrillation at baseline. During a median follow-up of 7.2 years, 371
cases of atrial fibrillation were identified. Relative risks (RR)
were calculated with 95% CIs using the Cox proportional hazards
model, adjusted for age, gender, body mass index, hypertension,
systolic blood pressure, serum cholesterol level, diabetes mellitus,
left ventricular hypertrophy on the electrocardiogram, prevalent and
incident myocardial infarction, prevalent heart failure, and the use
of pulmonary medication.
After multivariate adjustment, current smokers and former smokers had
increased risks of atrial fibrillation as compared to never smokers
(RR 1.51, 95% CI 1.07-2.12; and RR 1.49, 95% CI 1.14-1.97,
respectively). No differences were found between men and women.
Conclusions: The results of this prospective, population-based study
show that current and former smoking of cigarettes are associated
with increased risk of atrial fibrillation.

Am Heart J. 2008;156(6):1163-1169