TY - JOUR
T1 - Systolic blood pressure and effects of screening for atrial fibrillation with long-term continuous monitoring
AU - Xing, LY
AU - Diederichsen, SZ
AU - Hoejberg, S
AU - Krieger, DW
AU - Graff, C
AU - Olesen, MS
AU - Brandes, A
AU - Koeber, L
AU - Haugan, KJ
AU - Svendsen, JH
N1 - Type of funding sources: Other. Main funding source(s): The LOOP Study was supported by Innovation Fund Denmark [grant number 12-1352259], The Research Foundation for the Capital Region of Denmark, The Danish Heart Foundation [grant number 11-04-R83-A3363-22625], Aalborg University Talent Management Program, Arvid Nilssons Fond, Skibsreder Per Henriksen, R og Hustrus Fond, the European Union’s Horizon 2020 program [grant number 847770 to the AFFECT-EU consortium], Læge Sophus Carl Emil Friis og hustru Olga Doris Friis’ Legat, and an unrestricted grant from Medtronic.
PY - 2022/5/1
Y1 - 2022/5/1
N2 - The recently published LOOP Study was a randomized controlled clinical trial to evaluate systematic atrial fibrillation (AF) screening with long-term continuous monitoring in an elderly population at risk and found no significant reduction in stroke. However, the screening effects seemed to differ across levels of systolic blood pressure (SBP). It is well-known that hypertension constitutes a prominent risk factor for clinical AF and stroke alike, but data on the impacts of SBP on subclinical AF and hereby AF screening efficacy are lacking.With this post hoc analysis of the LOOP Study, we aimed to provide insights into the interaction between SBP and benefits of systematic AF screening.The LOOP Study randomized individuals aged 70-90 years with ≥1 stroke risk factor (hypertension, diabetes, heart failure, or previous stroke) and without prior AF to either monitoring with implantable loop recorder (ILR) and initiation of oral anticoagulation upon detection of new-onset AF episodes lasting ≥6 minutes, or usual care (control group). In total, 5997 participants with available SBP measurements at enrolment were included in the present analysis. The interaction between SBP and ILR screening efficacy on stroke or systemic arterial embolism (SAE), as indicated by hazard ratio (HR) for ILR versus control, was assessed with polynomial moving-average regression. The lowest SBP threshold with significant screening benefits was further determined and used to examine clinical outcomes and the occurrence of AF with respect to dichotomized SBP. Additionally, penalized spline models were employed to assess AF occurrence by SBP as a continuous variable.HR of stroke/SAE for ILR versus control decreased with increasing SBP and the lowest threshold for significant screening benefits was at SBP ≥150 mmHg. ILR screening of participants with SBP ≥150 mmHg yielded a 45\SAE (HR 0.55 [0.37-0.82]). Within the ILR group, SBP ≥150 mmHg was associated with an increased risk of AF episodes ≥24 hours as compared to lower SBP (HR 1.57 [1.01-2.45]), but not with the overall occurrence of AF (HR 1.14 [0.95-1.36]). No significant association between SBP and AF occurrence in the ILR group was reported in penalized spline models either (p-value: 0.73).The benefits of ILR screening for AF on stroke/SAE increased with increasing blood pressure. SBP ≥150 mmHg was associated with a 1.5-fold increased risk of AF episodes ≥24 hours, along with an almost 50\SAE by ILR screening.
AB - The recently published LOOP Study was a randomized controlled clinical trial to evaluate systematic atrial fibrillation (AF) screening with long-term continuous monitoring in an elderly population at risk and found no significant reduction in stroke. However, the screening effects seemed to differ across levels of systolic blood pressure (SBP). It is well-known that hypertension constitutes a prominent risk factor for clinical AF and stroke alike, but data on the impacts of SBP on subclinical AF and hereby AF screening efficacy are lacking.With this post hoc analysis of the LOOP Study, we aimed to provide insights into the interaction between SBP and benefits of systematic AF screening.The LOOP Study randomized individuals aged 70-90 years with ≥1 stroke risk factor (hypertension, diabetes, heart failure, or previous stroke) and without prior AF to either monitoring with implantable loop recorder (ILR) and initiation of oral anticoagulation upon detection of new-onset AF episodes lasting ≥6 minutes, or usual care (control group). In total, 5997 participants with available SBP measurements at enrolment were included in the present analysis. The interaction between SBP and ILR screening efficacy on stroke or systemic arterial embolism (SAE), as indicated by hazard ratio (HR) for ILR versus control, was assessed with polynomial moving-average regression. The lowest SBP threshold with significant screening benefits was further determined and used to examine clinical outcomes and the occurrence of AF with respect to dichotomized SBP. Additionally, penalized spline models were employed to assess AF occurrence by SBP as a continuous variable.HR of stroke/SAE for ILR versus control decreased with increasing SBP and the lowest threshold for significant screening benefits was at SBP ≥150 mmHg. ILR screening of participants with SBP ≥150 mmHg yielded a 45\SAE (HR 0.55 [0.37-0.82]). Within the ILR group, SBP ≥150 mmHg was associated with an increased risk of AF episodes ≥24 hours as compared to lower SBP (HR 1.57 [1.01-2.45]), but not with the overall occurrence of AF (HR 1.14 [0.95-1.36]). No significant association between SBP and AF occurrence in the ILR group was reported in penalized spline models either (p-value: 0.73).The benefits of ILR screening for AF on stroke/SAE increased with increasing blood pressure. SBP ≥150 mmHg was associated with a 1.5-fold increased risk of AF episodes ≥24 hours, along with an almost 50\SAE by ILR screening.
U2 - 10.1093/europace/euac053.281
DO - 10.1093/europace/euac053.281
M3 - Journal article
SN - 1099-5129
VL - 24
JO - Europace
JF - Europace
IS - Suppl. 1
M1 - euac053.281
T2 - EHRA 2022
Y2 - 3 April 2022 through 5 April 2022
ER -