Objective: To investigate the relation between atrial fibrillation (AF) and coronary heart disease according to the pathological data.
Method: Total 540 out of 1012 anatomic older cases were admitted to our study, according to the clinical and pathological data in our hospital.
Results: (1) The incidence of AF increased significantly with aging (Cochran-Armitage trend test, P<0.01). (2) The AF patients were more likely to accompany coronary heart disease (P=0.0028) based on the anatomical documentation; the incidence of myocardial infarction in the AF group was statistically significant higher than that in the sinus rhythm group (P=0.0144). The level of coronary artery lesion in AF group was statistically significant severe than that in the sinus rhythm group. (3) Age (OR=1.34, 95% CI 1.11 - 1.60), male (OR=5.71, 95% CI 1.87 - 17.39) and chronic heart failure (OR=1.87, 95% CI 1.27 - 2.76) were independent risk factors of AF based on multivariant logistic analysis, while coronary heart disease (OR=1.47, 95% CI 0.91 - 2.39) was not an independent risk factor.
Conclusions: The incidence of AF increases significantly with aging in the elderly. The AF patients seem more likely to accompany coronary heart disease but coronary heart disease may be not the independent risk factor of AF in the elderly.