Elite female endurance athletes at higher risk of developing AF

Researchers from the Department of Medicine Huddinge from Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm in Sweden while explaining the study background said that previous research has mentioned that there is a higher risk of AF in those men who are involved in sports activity. There needs to be more data on this background among women. In this study, researchers examined whether participation in endurance sports affects AF risk in female athletes in their retrospective matched cohort study of top Swedish female endurance athletes. The data was used from the Swedish Total Population Register.

The key points of the summary are:

• There were 228 female athletes and 1368 reference individuals. The mean age was 32 years.
• The athlete cohort combined all Swedish women running Stockholm Marathon faster than 3 hours 15 min in races between 1979 and 1991, all women competing in the Swedish athletic national championships in the 10 000 metre race, and the top-ranked Swedish cyclists.
• National Patient Register was used to determine AF diagnosis.
• Follow up duration was 28 years.
• 33 cases got AF were diagnosed among 10 Athletes and 23 references constituting 4.4 % and 1.7 % respectively.
• The HR for female athletes was 2.56 (univariable model)and 3.67 ( after adjustment for hypertension).

Concluding further, they said, the risk of AF is greater in Elite female endurance athletes compared to the general population.

The study could not demonstrate a link due to a Small number of atrial fibrillation diagnoses.

Swedish nonprofit organizations funded the study.

Further reading:

https://bjsm.bmj.com/content/early/2023/07/10/bjsports-2022-106035