Arrhythmias & electrophysiologyCohort study
The Association of Malignancy With Stroke and Bleeding in Atrial Fibrillation
- Population-based cohort study
- matched cohort
- administrative datasets
Authors' conclusion
People with AF and malignancy generally had similar hazards of stroke but higher hazards of bleeding compared with cancer-free control subjects
Study context
- Population
- People aged ≥66 years with newly diagnosed atrial fibrillation (AF)matched n = 43,802
- Participants
- 199,710 people
- Exposure
- Prior malignancy vs cancer-free controls
- Malignancyn = 21,901
- Outcome
- Hospitalization for stroke; hospitalization/ED visits for bleeding
Main finding
As reported in the abstract
Malignancy vs Cancer-free controlsHazard ratio (95% CI)
stroke
1.01(0.88–1.15)
bleeding
1.45(1.37–1.53)
Observational data: associations, not effects.
Further findings
Stroke and bleeding by cancer type (subgroups)
- Mostly consistent; increased stroke hazard in lung cancer; no increased bleeding hazard in breast cancer and lymphoma
Prior malignancy prevalence
- Prior malignancy among AF patients
- 24,991 (12.5%)
- Malignancy associated with more inpatient AF diagnoses and less anticoagulation
Original publication
The Association of Malignancy With Stroke and Bleeding in Atrial Fibrillation. JACC CardioOncol. Published 14 January 2025. doi:10.1016/j.jaccao.2024.10.014
Summarised from the published abstract; every number is checked against it