1. Very Low Prevalence and Incidence of Atrial Fibrillation among Bolivian Forager-Farmers
- Author
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Raul Quispe Gutierrez, Edmond Seabright, Chris J. Rowan, Abinash Achrekar, Hillard Kaplan, Gregory S. Thomas, Michael I. Miyamoto, Randall C. Thompson, Michael Gurven, Bret Alexander Beheim, Jonathan Stieglitz, Jagat Narula, Juan Copajira Adrian, Adel H. Allam, Benjamin C. Trumble, Michael A. Eskander, Daniel Cummings, Daniel Eid Rodriguez, Kirsten Tolstrup, Thomas S. Kraft, David E. Michalik, Edhitt Cortez Linares, L. Samuel Wann, and Institute for Advanced Study in Toulouse (IAST)
- Subjects
Male ,Aging ,Infectious and parasitic diseases ,RC109-216 ,Cardiovascular ,Bolivian amazon ,0302 clinical medicine ,Risk Factors ,Atrial Fibrillation ,Prevalence ,2.1 Biological and endogenous factors ,030212 general & internal medicine ,B- ECONOMIE ET FINANCE ,Original Research ,2. Zero hunger ,Farmers ,030503 health policy & services ,Incidence (epidemiology) ,Incidence ,Atrial fibrillation ,General Medicine ,[SHS.ECO]Humanities and Social Sciences/Economics and Finance ,3. Good health ,Infectious Diseases ,Heart Disease ,Public Health and Health Services ,Female ,Public aspects of medicine ,RA1-1270 ,0305 other medical science ,medicine.medical_specialty ,Bolivia ,Clinical Sciences ,Physical activity ,03 medical and health sciences ,Clinical Research ,Diabetes mellitus ,Internal medicine ,medicine ,Humans ,Obesity ,Coronary atherosclerosis ,Aged ,Nutrition ,business.industry ,Prevention ,medicine.disease ,Atherosclerosis ,business - Abstract
National audience; Background: Atrial fibrillation is the most common arrhythmia in post-industrialized populations. Older age, hypertension, obesity, chronic inflammation, and diabetes are significant atrial fibrillation risk factors, suggesting that modern urban environments may promote atrial fibrillation.Objective: Here we assess atrial fibrillation prevalence and incidence among tropical horticulturalists of the Bolivian Amazon with high levels of physical activity, a lean diet, and minimal coronary atherosclerosis, but also high infectious disease burden and associated inflammation.Methods: Between 2005–2019, 1314 Tsimane aged 40–94 years (52% female) and 534 Moseten Amerindians aged 40–89 years (50% female) underwent resting 12-lead electrocardiograms to assess atrial fibrillation prevalence. For atrial fibrillation incidence assessment, 1059 (81% of original sample) Tsimane and 310 Moseten (58%) underwent additional ECGs (mean time to follow up 7.0, 1.8 years, respectively).Findings:Only one (male) of 1314 Tsimane (0.076%) and one (male) of 534 Moseten (0.187%) demonstrated atrial fibrillation at baseline. There was one new (female) Tsimane case in 7395 risk years for the 1059 participants with >1 ECG (incidence rate = 0.14 per 1,000 risk years). No new cases were detected among Moseten, based on 542 risk years.Conclusion: Tsimane and Moseten show the lowest levels of atrial fibrillation ever reported, 1/20 to ~1/6 of rates in high-income countries. These findings provide additional evidence that a subsistence lifestyle with high levels of physical activity, and a diet low in processed carbohydrates and fat is cardioprotective, despite frequent infection-induced inflammation. Findings suggest that atrial fibrillation is a modifiable lifestyle disease rather than an inevitable feature of cardiovascular aging.
- Published
- 2021
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