RESEARCH ARTICLE Open Access in d

len times the population average in the three years after first four cohort studies with information relevant to the Woodward et al. BMC Public Health (2015) 15:23 DOI 10.1186/s12889-014-1341-6University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand Full list of author information is available at the end of the articleadmission to hospital for AF. Even amongst relatively young patients (35-64 years) without significant co-morbidity, the mortality rate was twice that expected [3]. It is 15 years since the first study linking AF with high intensity physical activity was published, [4] and it is question and sufficiently detailed for a pooled analysis, and on the basis of these data the authors concluded that regular physical activity in the general population was not associated with an increased risk of AF [7]. In this analysis the combined Odds Ratio for AF when comparing the most physically active with the least active group was 1.08 (95 % CI 0.97-1.21). * Correspondence: a.woodward@auckland.ac.nz1Section of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Population Health,considerable. In Sweden, mortality was more than fiveinvited to complete an on-line questionnaire. Those who agreed (n = 2590, response rate = 43.1%) were followed up by record linkage via the National Minimum Health Database from December 1 2006 until June 30 2013, to identify admissions to hospital due to AF. Results: The age and gender standardized admission rate for AF was similar in the Taupo cohort (19.60 per 10,000 per year) and the national population over the same period (2006-2011) (19.45 per 10,000 per year). Within the study cohort (men only), for every additional hour spent cycling per week the risk changed by 0.90 (95% confidence interval 0.79 – 1.01). This result did not change appreciably after adjustment for age and height. Conclusions: Hospital admission due to AF was not increased above the national rate in this group of non-elite cyclists, and within the group the rate of AF did not increase with amount of cycling. The level of activity undertaken by this cohort of cyclists was, on average, not sufficient to increase the risk of hospitalization for AF