Fib Contributes to Wide Range of Other Health Conditions

Excessive alcohol consumption and age may increase risk of stroke in people with a common heart rhythm disorder called atrial fibrillation, a new study finds.

At the moment, patients with irregular heartbeats are prescribed anti-coagulant drugs but these do little to none to reduce the other risks like liver kidney disease or heart failure. “Any condition that affects the conduction of electrical impulses in the heart can cause atrial fibrillation”, like heart disease or thyroid disease, or the cause may be unclear, he said.

The team reviewed 104 studies involving more than 9 million people, including almost 590,000 people with atrial fibrillation. However with atrial fibrillation, it can be considerably higher than 100 beats per minute. The American Heart Association estimates that at least 2.7 million Americans are living with the heart condition.

Absolute risk increases (based on the U.S. population) included 3.8 events per 1,000 participant years for all cause mortality, 1.4 events per 1,000 participant years for ischaemic heart disease, and 6.6 events per 1,000 participant years for chronic kidney disease. Researchers said that people with atrial fibrillation are more likely to have heart attacks than those who did not develop this issue. The cause for irregular heartbeat is not known but doctors say high blood pressure, asthma and diabetes can increase the risk of developing this condition.

The findings add “to the growing literature on the association between atrial fibrillation and cardiovascular outcomes beyond stroke”, researchers at the University of Oxford in England and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology wrote. People with atrial fibrillation were 1.6 times as likely to suffer from kidney disease and 1.9 times more likely to suffer from sudden cardiac arrest than those who do not suffer from atrial fibrillation. “They should consider the risk for other cardiovascular diseases such as heart failure, kidney disease and coronary heart disease as well”. “Regular patient updates should also be provided to patients after lifestyle changes and/or pharmacotherapy have begun as a way to encourage further progress”.