Lewy body dementia is associated with an increased risk of atrial fibrillation: A case-control study

Background: Lewy bodies are a hallmark of Dementia with Lewy Bodies. They can also be found in the sinoatrial node and may be associated with heart disease.

Objectives: We aimed to investigate a possible association between Lewy Body dementia and atrial fibrillation.

Methods: We performed a case-control study based on our centre's cohort of degenerative dementia (Dementia with Lewy Bodies and Alzheimer's disease) patients. The possible association between Lewy Body dementia and atrial fibrillation was studied through a binomial logistic regression, which adjusted for comorbidity data.

Results: We included 461 patients. 45 of the 398 (11.3%) with Alzheimer's disease and 14 of the 63 with Dementia with Lewy Bodies (22.2%) had atrial fibrillation. Heart failure (OR = 3.345, 95%CI = [1.618, 6.916], p = 0.001), hypertension (OR = 2.547, 95%CI = [1,137, 5.703], p = 0.023), stroke (OR = 2.274, 95%CI = [1.013, 5.103], p = 0.046) and Dementia with Lewy Bodies (OR = 2.536, 95%CI = [1.105, 5.822], p = 0.028) were associated with atrial fibrillation.

Conclusions: We found an association between Dementia with Lewy bodies and Atrial Fibrillation.