Arrhythmias & electrophysiology
Outcomes in Patients With Atrial Fibrillation Stratified by Body Mass Index and Heart Failure Status
- Registry study linked to Medicare claims
- Get With The Guidelines-Atrial Fibrillation registry
- 2013 to 2021
- adjusted Cox proportional hazards models
- stratified by heart failure (HF) status
+4 more
- Get With The Guidelines-Atrial Fibrillation registry
- 2013 to 2021
- adjusted Cox proportional hazards models
- stratified by heart failure (HF) status
Authors' conclusion
Higher BMI was associated with increased survival in patients without obesity, irrespective of HF status, but not in patients with obesity and AF.
Study context
- Population
- Patients hospitalized for atrial fibrillation (AF) in the Get With The Guidelines-Atrial Fibrillation registry linked to Medicare claimsmean age 77 years, 42.3% male
- Participants
- 21,850 patients
- Exposure
- Association between body mass index (BMI) and outcomes, stratified by HF status
- underweight/normaln = 29.5%
- overweightn = 32.0%
- obesen = 38.5%
Main finding
As reported in the abstract
Mortality per 1 kg/m² increase in BMI, patients without obesity · 1 year
per 1 kg/m² increase in BMIHR
without HF
0.94(95% CI 0.92–0.95)
HF with reduced ejection fraction
0.96(CI 0.93–0.99)
HF with preserved ejection fraction/HF with mid-range ejection fraction
0.93(CI 0.92–0.95)
Per 1 kg/m² increase in BMI, as printed
Observational data: associations, not effects.
Further findings
Cardiovascular rehospitalization, thromboembolism, and myocardial infarction · 1 year
- Not significantly different across the HF spectrum between patients with and without obesity
- all interaction P > 0.05
Original publication
Outcomes in Patients With Atrial Fibrillation Stratified by Body Mass Index and Heart Failure Status. JACC Adv. Published 19 January 2026. doi:10.1016/j.jacadv.2025.102531
Summarised from the published abstract; every number is checked against it