Acute cardiac care & resuscitationCohort study
Investigating the Association Between Atrial Fibrillation and Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest
- Danish, nationwide matched cohort study
- 1:4 matching
- multivariable Cox regression
Authors' conclusion
Findings suggest that AF remains a risk factor for OHCA, even after adjustments for ischemic heart disease and heart failure. Future studies should explore subsets of patients with AF at highest risk of OHCA to tailor preventive efforts toward this patient group.
Study context
- Population
- Individuals aged 18 to 85 years in the Danish Cardiac Arrest Registry (June 1, 2001, to December 31, 2022)individuals included, of whom 368,639 had atrial fibrillation (AF), 309,010 newly diagnosed AF patients matched to 1,236,040 non-AF patients
- Participants
- 6.47 million individuals
- Exposure
- AF patients vs non-AF patients
- AF patientsn = 309,010
- non-AF patientsn = 1,236,040reference
Main finding
OHCA
Adjusted hazard ratio
1.66
95% CI 1.62–1.70
AF patients vs non-AF patients
Adjusted HR 1.66 (95% CI 1.62–1.70)
As reported in the abstract
Observational data: associations, not effects.
Further findings
| Outcome | Adjusted HR (95% CI) | |
|---|---|---|
| All-cause mortality · higher in AF patients · matched cohort | 1.79 (1.78–1.81) | |
| 0.512Adjusted hazard ratio (log scale) |
Original publication
Investigating the Association Between Atrial Fibrillation and Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest. JACC Clin Electrophysiol. Published 24 July 2026. doi:10.1016/j.jacep.2026.06.009
Summarised from the published abstract; every number is checked against it