Impact of Systolic Blood Pressure Time in Target Range on Adverse Events in Patients With Nonvalvular Atrial Fibrillation (from the J-RHYTHM Registry)

Although time in target range (TTR) of systolic blood pressure (BP), an index of consistency of BP control, is reportedly associated with major cardiovascular outcomes, the impact of BP-TTR on adverse events in patients with nonvalvular atrial fibrillation (NVAF) has not been thoroughly investigated. Thus, we performed a post hoc analysis to clarify it in patients with NVAF using data of the J-RHYTHM registry. Of 7,406 outpatients with NVAF, 7,226 (age, 70 ± 10 years; men, 71%), in whom BP was measured 4 times or more (15 ± 5 times) during the 2-year follow-up period or until occurrence of an event, constituted the study group. Systolic BP-TTR, with a target range of 110 to 130 mm Hg, was calculated by Rosendaal linear interpolation method. Overall systolic BP-TTR was 50 ± 28%. Thromboembolism, major hemorrhage, all-cause death, and cardiovascular death occurred in 110 (1.5%), 121 (1.7%), 168 (2.3%), and 60 patients (0.8%), respectively. Each 1% increase in systolic BP-TTR was significantly associated with a decreased incidence of all adverse events in the unadjusted model; whereas, significant association was observed only for cardiovascular death (adjusted hazard ratio 0.983, 95% confidence interval 0.971 to 0.995, p = 0.006) after adjusting for known confounders and systolic BP at the time closest to an event. In contrast, each 1% increase in systolic BP time in subtarget range of <110 mm Hg was significantly associated with an increased risk of thromboembolism (hazard ratio 1.014, 95% confidence interval 1.005 to 1.024, p = 0.002). In conclusion, systolic BP-TTR and BP time in subtarget range would be useful for risk evaluation of cardiovascular death and thromboembolism, respectively, in patients with NVAF.