Serum uric acid and incident atrial fibrillation: A systematic review and dose–response meta‐analysis

The exposure‐effect association between serum uric acid and atrial fibrillationis not well known. We conduct a meta‐analysis to quantitatively examine the exposure‐effect relationship between serum uric acid and atrial fibrillation. Prospective studies (including cohort or nested case‐control) that reported the serum uric acid and atrial fibrillation were identified through electronic searches using EMBASE, PubMed, and the Cochrane Library database. The exposure‐effect analysis was performed using a stage robust error meta‐regression. Eleven studies were included, with a total of 6831 cases of atrial fibrillation among 527 908 individuals. Both the highest (risk ratio (RR), 1.9; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.64–2.23; I2 = 0%) and intermediate (RR, 1.36; 95% CI, 1.16–1.59; I2 = 36%) level of serum uric acid were associated with increased risks of atrial fibrillation compared to the patients with the lowest level of serum uric acid. In the exposure‐effect analysis, for each 1 mg/dL increase in serum uric acid level, the incidence of atrial fibrillation increased by 21% (RR, 1.21; 95% CI, 1.12–1.32; I2 = 78%). Furthermore, a significant positive linear relationship between serum uric acid and the risk of atrial fibrillation, Pnonlinearity = 0.47 was found. The exposure‐effect analysis demonstrated that serum uric acid over 5.0 mg/dL significantly increased the risk of atrial fibrillation. There was a positive linear association between serum uric acid and risk of atrial fibrillation, both in subjects with noruricaemia and hyperuricaemia. More studies are needed to explore the impact of serum uric acid reduction on the incidence of atrial fibrillation. The present meta‐analysis shows that there is a significant positive linear relationship between serum uric acid and the risk of atrial fibrillation, with 1 mg/dL increase in serum uric acid level, the incidence of atrial fibrillation increased by 21%. More importantly, the exposure‐effect analysis demonstrates that normal‐high serum uric acid (over 5.0 mg/dL) significantly increases the risk of atrial fibrillation.