Sacher, Frederic, Fauchier, Laurent, Boveda, Serge, de Chillou, Christian, Defaye, Pascal, Deharo, Jean Claude, Gandjbakhch, Estelle, Probst, Vincent, Cohen, Ariel, Leclercq, Christophe, Bisson, Arnaud, Bodin, Alexandre, Herbert, Julien, Lacour, Thibaud, Saint Etienne, Christophe, Pierre, Bertrand, Clementy, Nicolas, Deharo, Pierre, Babuty, Dominique, Gaborit, Christophe, Lip, Gregory Y.H., Centre de recherche Cardio-Thoracique de Bordeaux [Bordeaux] (CRCTB), Université Bordeaux Segalen - Bordeaux 2-CHU Bordeaux [Bordeaux]-Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM), CHU Bordeaux [Bordeaux], Département de Cardiologie [Hôpital de la Timone - APHM], Assistance Publique - Hôpitaux de Marseille (APHM)- Hôpital de la Timone [CHU - APHM] (TIMONE), Éducation Éthique Santé EA 7505 (EES), Université de Tours (UT), Clinique Pasteur, Clinique Pasteur [Toulouse], Centre Hospitalier Régional Universitaire de Nancy (CHRU Nancy), Centre Hospitalier Universitaire [Grenoble] (CHU), Centre recherche en CardioVasculaire et Nutrition = Center for CardioVascular and Nutrition research (C2VN), Aix Marseille Université (AMU)-Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM)-Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement (INRAE), CHU Pitié-Salpêtrière [AP-HP], Assistance publique - Hôpitaux de Paris (AP-HP) (AP-HP)-Sorbonne Université (SU), Unité de recherche de l'institut du thorax (ITX-lab), Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université de Nantes - UFR de Médecine et des Techniques Médicales (UFR MEDECINE), Université de Nantes (UN)-Université de Nantes (UN), CHU Saint-Antoine [AP-HP], CHU Pontchaillou [Rennes], CHU Trousseau [APHP], Physiologie de la reproduction et des comportements [Nouzilly] (PRC), Institut Français du Cheval et de l'Equitation [Saumur] (IFCE)-Université de Tours (UT)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement (INRAE), CHU Trousseau [Tours], Centre Hospitalier Régional Universitaire de Tours (CHRU Tours), EA4245 - Transplantation, Immunologie, Inflammation [Tours] (T2i), Service d'Information Médicale d'Epidemiologie et d'Economie de la Santé, University of Liverpool, Liverpool Heart & Chest Hospital, and Aalborg University [Denmark] (AAU)
Background and Purpose— Atrial fibrillation (AF) is known to increase risk of ischemic stroke (IS), but the risk of IS in isolated sinus node disease (SND) is unclear. We compared the incidence of IS in patients with SND, patients with AF, and in a control population with other cardiac diseases (disease of the circulatory system using the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision ). Methods— This French longitudinal cohort study was based on the national database covering hospital care for the entire population from 2008 to 2015. Results— Of 1 692 157 patients included in the cohort, 100 366 had isolated SND, 1 564 270 had isolated AF, and 27 521 had AF associated with SND. Incidence of IS during follow-up was higher in isolated patients with AF than in AF associated with SND (yearly rate 2.22% versus 2.06%) and in isolated patients with AF than in isolated patients with SND (yearly rate 2.22% versus 1.59%). The incidence of IS was lower in a control population with other cardiac conditions (n=479 108) compared with SND and patients with AF (0.96%/y, 1.59%/y, and 2.22%/y, respectively). After 1:1 propensity score matching, SND was associated with lower incidence of IS compared to AF (hazard ratio, 0.77 [95% CI, 0.73–0.82]) but higher incidence of IS compared to control population (hazard ratio, 1.27 [95%CI, 1.19–1.35]). Conclusions— Patients with SND had a lower risk of thromboembolic events than patients with AF but a higher risk than a control population with other cardiac diseases. Randomized clinical trial in a selected SND population, with, for example, a high CHA 2 DS 2 -VASc score, would be required to determine the value of IS prevention by anticoagulation.