Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jan 25, 2026

Transesophageal Atrial Burst Pacing for Atrial Fibrillation Induction in Rats
05:12

Transesophageal Atrial Burst Pacing for Atrial Fibrillation Induction in Rats

Published on: February 14, 2022

3.8K

Total cholesterol variability and risk of atrial fibrillation: A nationwide population-based cohort study

Eun Roh1, Hye Soo Chung2, Ji Sung Lee3

  • 1Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Department of Internal Medicine, Korea University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.

Plos One
|April 25, 2019
PubMed

Insights

High total cholesterol (TC) variability, measured in various ways, is linked to a greater risk of developing atrial fibrillation (AF). This finding highlights cholesterol variability as a potential predictor for AF in adults.

Area of Science:

  • Cardiology
  • Epidemiology
  • Biostatistics

Background:

  • Long-term variability in cardiometabolic risk factors is implicated in cardiovascular disease and mortality.
  • The specific impact of total cholesterol (TC) variability on incident atrial fibrillation (AF) remains underexplored.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the association between visit-to-visit TC variability and the risk of incident AF.
  • To determine if TC variability is an independent risk factor for AF.

Main Methods:

  • Utilized the Korean National Health Insurance Service-NHIS-HEALS database, including 160,165 Korean adults.
  • Assessed TC variability using coefficients of variance (TC-CV), standard deviation (TC-SD), and variability independent of the mean (TC-VIM).
  • Employed Kaplan-Meier analysis and multivariate Cox proportional hazard models, adjusting for confounders over a median follow-up of 8.4 years.

Main Results:

  • Higher quartiles of TC variability were associated with a decreased disease-free probability for AF.
  • Multivariate analysis revealed a significant increase in AF risk with the highest TC variability quartile (HR 1.15, 95% CI 1.05-1.25 for TC-CV).
  • Consistent associations were observed across different measures of TC variability (TC-SD, TC-VIM) and in subgroup analyses.

Conclusions:

  • This study provides the first evidence linking high total cholesterol variability to an elevated risk of incident atrial fibrillation.
  • TC variability may serve as a novel risk marker for predicting AF development.
Abstract

More Related Videos

Reduced Procedure Time and Variability with Active Esophageal Cooling During Radiofrequency Ablation for Atrial Fibrillation04:58

Reduced Procedure Time and Variability with Active Esophageal Cooling During Radiofrequency Ablation for Atrial Fibrillation

Published on: August 25, 2022

2.5K
Robotic Ablation of Atrial Fibrillation11:21

Robotic Ablation of Atrial Fibrillation

Published on: May 29, 2015

20.2K

Related Concept Videos

Amyloid Fibrils03:03

Amyloid Fibrils

Amyloid fibrils are aggregates of misfolded proteins.  Under most circumstances, misfolded proteins are either refolded by chaperone proteins or degraded by the proteasome. However, in the case of a mutation or a disease, these proteins can accumulate to form large clusters and often further assemble to form elongated fibers, called fibrils. 
Amyloid deposits were observed as early as 1639 in the liver and the spleen.   In 1854, Rudolph Virchow performed iodine staining,...
11.7K
Amyloid Fibrils03:03

Amyloid Fibrils

6.4K
Conservation of Small Populations02:04

Conservation of Small Populations

Small population sizes put a species at extreme risk of extinction due to a lack of variation, and a consequent decrease in adaptability. This weakens the chances of survival under pressures such as climate change, competition from other species, or new diseases. Large populations are more likely to survive pressures such as these, as such populations are more likely to harbor individuals that have genetic variants that are adaptive under new stresses. Small populations are much less...
16.7K
What is Population Genetics?01:25

What is Population Genetics?

A population is composed of members of the same species that simultaneously live and interact in the same area. When individuals in a population breed, they pass down their genes to their offspring. Many of these genes are polymorphic, meaning that they occur in multiple variants. Such variations of a gene are referred to as alleles. The collective set of all the alleles within a population is known as the gene pool.
64.5K
Cholesterol: Significance and Regulation01:29

Cholesterol: Significance and Regulation

Although not a source of energy, cholesterol plays a significant role as a foundational structure for bile salts, steroid hormones, and vitamin D, as well as being a crucial component of plasma membranes. Approximately 15% of blood cholesterol is derived from our diet, with the remainder synthesized from acetyl CoA by the liver and intestines. Cholesterol is eliminated from the body through its conversion into bile salts, which are eventually discarded in the feces.
Considering cholesterol and...
1.3K
Fibril-associated Collagen01:11

Fibril-associated Collagen

Fibril-associated collagens are a type of collagens present in the extracellular matrix with interrupted triple helices or FACIT (Fibril-associated collagens interrupted triple-helices). FACIT help connect and attach the collagen fibrils with each other as well as with other proteins of the extracellular matrix.
For example, the type II collagen fibrils in cartilage have covalently bound type IX fibril-associated collagens at regular intervals. Other types of fibril-associated collagens are...
3.3K