Abstract
Background Primary aldosteronism (PA) is associated with higher atrial fibrillation prevalence and other cardiovascular complications. However, the effect of target treatment to prevent new-onset atrial fibrillation (NOAF) remains unclear. This study investigated incidence of NOAF under different treatment strategies in patients with PA. Methods and Results We analyzed longitudinal data for patients with PA without atrial fibrillation history from 1997 to 2009 within the National Health Insurance Research Database in Taiwan. Patients with essential hypertension matched by propensity score were enrolled as controls. The primary outcome measurement was NOAF, and secondary outcome measurements were mortality, major cardiac and cardiac/cerebrovascular events, and a combined end point of NOAF and mortality. We identified 2202 patients with PA (534 adrenalectomy, 1668 mineralocorticoid receptor antagonist [MRA] therapy) and 8808 essential hypertension controls with mean follow-up of 4.4 years. In primary outcome measurement, patients with PA who underwent adrenalectomy had a lower incidence of NOAF (adjusted hazard ratio; 0.28, P=0.011) than controls. In contrast, the patients with PA who received MRA therapy had comparable risk of NOAF (adjusted hazard ratio, 1.20; P=0.224). In secondary outcome measurement, patients with PA who underwent adrenalectomy had a lower rate of mortality and combined end point of NOAF and mortality than controls. Patients with PA who received MRA therapy had a higher risk of mortality, major cardiac and cardiac/cerebrovascular events, and combined NOAF with mortality than the essential hypertension controls. Conclusions Compared with patients with essential hypertension, patients with PA who underwent adrenalectomy had a lower incidence of NOAF. However, this finding was not observed in patients with PA who received MRA therapy with a lower dose. Differences between the 2 strategies may reduce with a higher dose of MRA therapy.