Skip Navigation


European Heart Journal Advance Access originally published online on January 20, 2006
European Heart Journal 2006 27(6):708-712; doi:10.1093/eurheartj/ehi727
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
27/6/708    most recent
ehi727v1
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in ISI Web of Science
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Search for citing articles in:
ISI Web of Science (14)
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Arnar, D. O.
Right arrow Articles by Stefansson, K.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Arnar, D. O.
Right arrow Articles by Stefansson, K.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© The European Society of Cardiology 2006. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Familial aggregation of atrial fibrillation in Iceland

David O. Arnar1, Sverrir Thorvaldsson2, Teri A. Manolio3, Gudmundur Thorgeirsson1, Kristleifur Kristjansson2, Hakon Hakonarson2,* and Kari Stefansson2,*

1Department of Medicine, Landspitali University Hospital, Hringbraut, Reykjavik, Iceland
2deCode Genetics Inc., Sturlugata 8, 101 Reykjavik, Iceland
3National Heart Lung and Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA

Received 31 May 2005; revised 11 November 2005; accepted 23 December 2005; online publish-ahead-of-print 20 January 2006.

* Corresponding authors. Tel: +354 570 1900; fax: +354 570 1903. E-mail address: hakonh{at}decode.iskstefans{at}decode.is

Aims To examine the heritability of atrial fibrillation (AF) in Icelanders, utilizing a nationwide genealogy database and population-based data on AF. AF is a disorder with a high prevalence, which has been known to cluster in families, but the heritability of the common form has not been well defined.

Methods and results The study population included 5269 patients diagnosed since 1987 and age-sex-matched controls randomly selected from the genealogy database. Kinship coefficients (KC), expressed as genealogical index of familiality (GIF=average KCx100 000), were calculated before and after exclusion of relatives separated by one to five meiotic events. Risk ratios (RR) were calculated for first- to fifth-degree relatives. The average pairwise GIF among patients with AF was 15.9 (mean GIF for controls 13.9, 95%CI=13.3, 14.4); this declined to 15.4 (mean GIF for controls 13.6, 95%CI=13.1, 14.2) after exclusion of relatives separated by one meiosis and to 13.7 (mean GIF for controls 12.6, 95%CI=12.1, 13.2), 12.7 (mean GIF for controls 11.9, 95%CI=11.4, 12.4), and 11.3 (mean GIF for controls 10.6, 95%CI=10.1, 11.1) after exclusion of relatives within two, three, and four meioses, respectively (all P<0.00001). RRs among relative pairs also declined incrementally, from 1.77 in first-degree relatives to 1.36, 1.18, 1.10, and 1.05 in second- through fifth-degree relatives (all P<0.001), consistent with the declining proportion of alleles shared identically by descent. When the analysis was limited to subjects diagnosed with AF before the age of 60, first-degree relatives of the AF cases were nearly five times more likely to have AF than the general population.

Conclusion AF shows strong evidence of heritability among unselected patients in Iceland, suggesting that there may be undiscovered genetic variants underlying the risk of the common form of AF.

Key Words: Arrhythmia • Genetics • Epidemiolgy


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Eur Heart JHome page
M. F. Sinner, A. Pfeufer, M. Akyol, B.-M. Beckmann, M. Hinterseer, A. Wacker, S. Perz, W. Sauter, T. Illig, M. Nabauer, et al.
The non-synonymous coding IKr-channel variant KCNH2-K897T is associated with atrial fibrillation: results from a systematic candidate gene-based analysis of KCNH2 (HERG)
Eur. Heart J., April 1, 2008; 29(7): 907 - 914.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Eur Heart JHome page
P. T. Ellinor and D. J. Milan
Polymorphisms and atrial fibrillation: sorting the wheat from the chaff
Eur. Heart J., April 1, 2008; 29(7): 843 - 845.
[Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Int J EpidemiolHome page
E. Glasson, N. de Klerk, A. Bass, D. Rosman, L. Palmer, and C. Holman
Cohort Profile: The Western Australian Family Connections Genealogical Project
Int. J. Epidemiol., February 1, 2008; 37(1): 30 - 35.
[Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USAHome page
M. Gottfredsson, B. V. Halldorsson, S. Jonsson, M. Kristjansson, K. Kristjansson, K. G. Kristinsson, A. Love, T. Blondal, C. Viboud, S. Thorvaldsson, et al.
From the Cover: Lessons from the past: Familial aggregation analysis of fatal pandemic influenza (Spanish flu) in Iceland in 1918
PNAS, January 29, 2008; 105(4): 1303 - 1308.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 CirculationHome page
D. Fatkin, R. Otway, and J. I. Vandenberg
Genes and Atrial Fibrillation: A New Look at an Old Problem
Circulation, August 14, 2007; 116(7): 782 - 792.
[Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Eur Heart JHome page
M. J. Junttila, M.J. P. Raatikainen, J. S. Perkiomaki, K. Hong, R. Brugada, and H. V. Huikuri
Familial clustering of lone atrial fibrillation in patients with saddleback-type ST-segment elevation in right precordial leads
Eur. Heart J., February 2, 2007; 28(4): 463 - 468.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Hum Mol GenetHome page
T. M. Olson, A. E. Alekseev, X. K. Liu, S. Park, L. V. Zingman, M. Bienengraeber, S. Sattiraju, J. D. Ballew, A. Jahangir, and A. Terzic
Kv1.5 channelopathy due to KCNA5 loss-of-function mutation causes human atrial fibrillation
Hum. Mol. Genet., July 15, 2006; 15(14): 2185 - 2191.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Disclaimer:
Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.