Impact of body mass index on left atrial dimension in HOCM patients.

Background: Substantial studies have demonstrated that left atrial (LA) enlargement was a robust predictor of atrial fibrillation (AF) and obesity was a modifiable risk factor for cardiovascular diseases. However, the role of body mass index (BMI) on LA dimension in hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy (HOCM) remains unclear.
Methods: A total of 423 HOCM patients (average BMI 25.4 ± 3.4 kg/m ² ) were recruited for our study. Participants were stratified into three groups based on BMI: normal weight (BMI < 23 kg/m ² ), overweight (BMI 23-27.5 kg/m ² ), and obesity (BMI ≥ 27.5 kg/m ² ).
Results: Compared with normal weight, patients with obesity had significantly lower prevalence of syncope ( p = 0.007) and moderate or severe mitral regurgitation ( p = 0.014), and serum NT-proBNP ( p = 0.004). Multiple linear regression analysis indicated that BMI ( β = 0.328, p < 0.001), log NT-proBNP ( β = 0.308, p < 0.001), presence of AF ( β = 0.209, p = 0.001), and left ventricular diastolic diameter index ( β = 0.142, p = 0.019) were independently related with LA diameter. However, BMI was not an independent predictor of the presence of AF on multivariable binary logistical regression analysis.
Conclusions: BMI was independently associated with LA diameter; however, it was not an independent predictor of prevalence of AF. These results suggest that BMI may promote incidence of AF through LA enlargement in HOCM.
Competing Interests: Conflict of interest: The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest.
(© 2021 Yue Zhou et al., published by De Gruyter.)