Original Article Left Atrial Volume: Important Risk Marker of Incident Atrial Fibrillation in 1655 Older Men and Women

• Objective: To evaluate the contribution of left atrial (LA) volume in predicting atrial fibrillation (AF). • Patients and Methods: In this retrospective cohort study, a random sample of 2200 adults was identified from all Olmsted County, Minnesota, residents who had under-gone transthoracic echocardiographic assessment between 1990 and 1998 and were 65 years of age or older at the time of examination, were in sinus rhythm, and had no history of AF or other atrial arrhythmias, stroke, pacemaker, congenital heart disease, or valve surgery. The LA volume was measured off-line by using a biplane area-length method. Clinical characteristics and the outcome event of incident AF were determined by retrospective review of medical records. Echocardiographic data were retrieved from the laboratory database. From this cohort, 1655 pa