Associations of Life's Essential 8 and fine particulate matter pollution with the incidence of atrial fibrillation.

Both unhealthy lifestyle factors and ambient air pollution have been closely linked with the risk of atrial fibrillation (AF). We retrieved 250,898 participants without AF at baseline from UK Biobank. LE8 was determined by 8 metrics, and was characterized as low, moderate and high cardiovascular health (CVH). Exposure to PM 2.5 was estimated at the geocoded residential address of each participant. During a median follow-up of 12.46 years, we identified 14,743 (5.9%) incident AF cases. Participants with moderate and high CVH showed a decreased risk of incident AF compared to those with low CVH. Of the LE8 metrics, ideal body mass index (BMI) and blood pressure (BP) were associated with a decrease of 11.57% and 11.46% AF cases. High PM 2.5 exposure was associated with an 8% increased risk of AF as compared to low PM 2.5 exposure. Compared with those who had low CVH and high PM 2.5 exposure, participants with a high CVH and low PM 2.5 exposure had the lower AF incidence. Our study found higher CVH is protective, while higher PM 2.5 might be one risk factor of AF. Adherence to the LE8 guidelines may help reduce the incidence of AF, especially in those with lower PM 2.5 exposure. [Display omitted] • Over 22% of Atrial fibrillation (AF) cases could be avoided if the people maintained high cardiovascular health. • Although high PM 2.5 exposure could result in developing AF, PM 2.5 had relatively modest contribution to AF. • Adherence to the Life's Essential 8 may help reduce the incidence of AF, especially in those with lower PM 2.5 exposure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]