Sex-related differences of fatty acid-binding protein 4 and leptin levels in atrial fibrillation

Abstract Aims Adiposity plays a key role in the pathogenesis of atrial fibrillation (AF). Our aim was to study the sex differences in adipokines levels according to AF burden. Methods and results Two independent cohorts of patients were studied: (i) consecutive patients with AF undergoing catheter ablation (n = 217) and (ii) a control group (n = 105). (i) Adipokines, oxidative stress, indirect autonomic markers, and leucocytes mRNA levels were analysed; (ii) correlation between biomarkers was explored with heatmaps and Kendall correlation coefficients; and (iii) logistic regression and random forest model were used to determine predictors of AF recurrence after ablation. Our results showed that: (i) fatty acid-binding protein 4 (FABP4) and leptin levels were higher in women than in men in both cohorts (P