Association of left atrial fibrosis with aortic excess pressure and white matter lesions

Figures & data

Figure 1. Cardiac magnetic resonance evaluation of left atrial fibrosis with the ADAS software.

Figure 2. Schematic of aortic pressure wave decomposition into excess pressure and reservoir pressure components.

Table 1. Clinical characteristics of the study subjects.

Continuous data
Parameter	Mean ± SD
Age (years)	61.7 ± 11.9
CHA2DS2-VASc points	2.7 ± 1.0
BMI (kg/m^2)	28.5 ± 3.8
Cholesterol (mmol/L)	4.3 ± 1.0
HDL cholesterol (mmol/L)	1.4 ± 0.3
LDL cholesterol (mmol/L)	2.2 ± 0.8
Trigliceride (mmol/L)	1.6 ± 1.2
Glucose (mmol/L)	5.8 ± 1.2
NT-proBNP (pg/l)	147 ± 172
Creatinine (µmol/L)	79,4 ± 15,1
BPsystolic (mmHg)	112.5 ± 12.2
BPdiastolic (mmHg)	70.8 ± 7.0
BPmean (mmHg)	85.2 ± 9.3
AP (mmHg)	9.7 ± 4.9
AIx@75 (%)	27.7 ± 9.7
ExcessPTI (mmHg·s)	4.1 ± 0.9
Atrial fibrosis (cm^2)	10.7 ± 11.1
Periventricular WMH volume (cm^3)	1.1 ± 1.4
Periventricular WMH counts	8.9 ± 4.6
Qualitative data
Parameter	N (%)
Female/Male	10/28
Heart failure (%)	5 (13)
Hypertension (%)	29 (76)
Diabetes (%)	8 (21)
Vascular disease (%)	29 (76)
Current smoker (%)	9 (24)

AP: augmentation pressure; AIx@75: augmentation index; CHA₂DS₂-VASc: score for atrial fibrillation stroke risk; BMI: body mass index; BNP: brain natriuretic factor; BP: blood pressure; BPmean: mean blood pressure; Excess_PTI: excess pressure time integral; WMH: white matter hyperintensities.

Figure 3. Correlation between left atrial fibrosis area and aortic excess pressure.

Table 2. Correlation between atrial fibrosis, periventricular white matter lesions, and hemodynamic metrics.

Parameter	Area of atrial fibrosis
PWM vol	r = 0.34; p = .036
BPmean	r = 0.31; p = .058
ExcessPTI	r = 0.65; p = .0001

BPmean: mean blood pressure; excess_PTI: excess pressure time integral; p: probability; PWM vol: periventricular white matter lesions volume; r: coefficient of correlation.

Table 3. Standardized coefficients for multiple linear regression of atrial fibrosis and periventricular white matter lesions volume on independent variables.

Variable	Standardized coefficient	Significance level (p-value)
Model 1 for the area of left atrial fibrosis (R^2 = 42%, p = .0001)
Age	0.05	.7
BPmean	0.2	.6
excessPTI	0.7	.0001
Model 2 for the periventricular white matter hyperintensities (R^2=30, p=.006)
Age	0.39	0.01
Atrial fibrosis	0.02	0.01
excessPTI	−0.37	0.06

Legend and abbreviations: age (years); atrial fibrosis (cm²); BPmean: mean blood pressure (mmHg); excess_PTI: excess pressure time integral (mmHg s); p: probability; R²: percent of the variance explained by the model.