United States: As per a new study published on Wednesday, Atrial fibrillation, or A-fib, which is an irregular heartbeat condition, is three times more frequent than what experts had previously assumed.
More about the news
About two-and-a-quarter years back, estimates suggested that atrial fibrillation or A-fib impacts 3.3 million grown-ups across America.
However, a team of researchers from the University of California, San Francisco, determined that A-fib impacts 10.5 million grown-ups or five percent of the grown-up populace in the United States, Yahoo Life reported.
What more are the experts stating?
UCSF researchers analyzed records of close to 30 million adult patients who underwent “acute or procedural care” across California between 2005 and 2019, and of these, almost 2 million had A-fib diagnosis.
The proportion of patients diagnosed rose over time – from 4.45 percent of patients (2005–2009) to 6.8 percent of patients (2015–2019). The data was then standardized to be nationally representative, though researchers were left with a final estimate of at least 10.5 million people with A-fib across the country.
A-fib is the reason for 20-30 percent of ischemic strokes – the sort that is most likely to take lives, and it raises the risks of heart failure, blood clots, chronic kidney disease, and dementia.
Dr. Gregory Marcus, who is the senior author of the study and cardiologist at UCSF Health, explained that experts suspected A-fib was more common than the previous assumption – however, “we were surprised by the large magnitude of the actual difference observed” in the study.
“These data also help to provide some comfort to the millions of patients contending with the disease, so they know they are not alone,” he added.
Moreover, Marcus wished that the study output would allow more resources to be available, which would provide support in helping those with A-fib, including more financial help and treatments.
“For example, there is now strong evidence that physical activity can reduce the burden of this disease, and yet Medicare does not cover cardiac rehabilitation programs for atrial fibrillation,” he continued.
Why is there a rise in the number of cases?
According to scientists, the rise is due to several factors, such as more cases and better detection of the disease.
According to Dr. Paul Wang, director of the Stanford Cardiac Arrhythmia Service, tells Yahoo Life. Dr. Rod Passman, director of the Center for Arrhythmia Research at Northwestern University, said, “The longer people live with many chronic conditions, such as high blood pressure, diabetes, metabolic syndrome, obesity, sleep apnea, and other medical problems, the more likely they are to develop A-fib,” the Yahoo Life reported.
Also, as Passman noted, “Barely a week goes by in my office where someone doesn’t come in and say, ‘My Apple Watch told me I had atrial fibrillation and I didn’t feel anything,'” while pointing out that there is improvement in detection techniques.