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AHA Scientific Sessions 2026 Abstract

Repeated low blood mineral levels linked to irregular heartbeat

For low calcium, adjusted hazard ratios—measures of relative event rates—rose from 1.27 with one abnormal reading to 1.84 with at least three.

Paper by Bryan C. Luu, Carlos Guillermo Martinez Bauza, Mitchell Beito, +8 more authorsVijay Nambi · Baylor College of Medicine
A cutaway heart with chaotic atrial marks sits beside mineral-sparse blood; a smaller heart has orderly marks beside mineral-rich blood.

Our read

Populations
Studied:
Cohort study of 95,492 adults with repeated outpatient potassium measurements, median 6.6 years (Dose-response)
What changed:
Atrial fibrillation risk rose with repeated low calcium readings: adjusted hazard ratio 1.84 with at least 3 abnormal measurements
The catch:
Diagnosis codes can miss undiagnosed atrial fibrillation
In the record:
The 6th paper on hypocalcemia with results in people; 27 on record in all.
Why it’s aging research:
It bears on staying healthy in midlife and later life.

Editor of record: Boris Djordjevic · AgingResearch.News

Paper
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Among 95,492 adults in the All of Us Research Program, an observational study linked repeated low potassium, sodium or calcium levels to new atrial fibrillation, an irregular heartbeat. Participants had at least two outpatient potassium measurements during a two-year window. Over a median 6.6 years of follow-up, 4,877 developed atrial fibrillation.

More low readings were associated with higher risk after adjustment for health conditions, medications and other factors. With at least three low readings, adjusted hazard ratios were 1.60 for sodium and 1.35 for potassium. The pattern also held among participants without heart failure, those not taking diuretics—medicines that increase urine production—and those with preserved kidney function.

Why it matters

The authors suggested that recurring mineral abnormalities in routine medical records may help identify people at higher risk of atrial fibrillation.

Caveats

Atrial fibrillation was identified through diagnosis codes, and health differences not captured by the adjustments could have contributed to the associations. The findings were reported in a conference abstract.

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