TY - JOUR T1 - Income and outcomes of patients with incident atrial fibrillation JF - Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health JO - J Epidemiol Community Health DO - 10.1136/jech-2022-219190 SP - jech-2022-219190 AU - Fausto Biancari AU - Konsta Teppo AU - Jussi Jaakkola AU - Olli Halminen AU - Miika Linna AU - Jari Haukka AU - Jukka Putaala AU - Pirjo Mustonen AU - Janne Kinnunen AU - Juha Hartikainen AU - Aapo Aro AU - Juhani Airaksinen AU - Mika Lehto Y1 - 2022/06/14 UR - http://jech.bmj.com/content/early/2022/06/14/jech-2022-219190.abstract N2 - Background Socioeconomic disparities can be associated with adverse outcomes in patients with cardiovascular diseases. The impact of personal income on the outcomes of patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) is unclear.Methods Nationwide observational registry-based study on patients with incident AF in Finland during 2007–2018.Results 203 154 patients (mean age 73.0±13.5; females 49.0%) were diagnosed with incident AF during the study period. Overall, 16 272 (8.0%) patients experienced first-ever ischaemic stroke and 63 420 (31.2%) died (mean follow-up 4.3±3.3 years). After adjusting for confounding factors, low personal income was associated with increased risk of overall mortality in all age strata and the incidence of first-ever stroke in patients aged <65 years and 65–74 years, but not in those ≥75 years. The magnitude of this effect was greatest in patients aged <65 years. After propensity score matching of patients <65 years in the lowest and highest quintiles of maximum personal annual income, at 10 years, those in the highest income quintile (≥€54 000) had significantly lower risk of first-ever stroke (subdistribution HR 0.495, 95% CI 0.391 to 0.628) and overall mortality (HR 0.307, 95% CI 0.269 to 0.351) compared with patients in the lowest income quintile (≤€12 000).Conclusions Personal annual income has a significant impact on the incidence of first-ever ischaemic stroke and overall mortality among patients with incident AF, particularly among patients of working age. Low-income indicate the need for intervention strategies to improve outcomes of AF.Trial registration number NCT04645537.No data are available. Data not available due to ethical restrictions. ER -