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The lifetime risk of atrial fibrillation (a heart condition that causes an irregular and often abnormally fast heart rate) has increased from one in four to one in three over the past two decades, as per a study published in The BMJ.
Among those with the condition, two in five are likely to develop heart failure over their remaining lifetime and one in five encounters a stroke, with little or no improvement in risk evident over the 20 year study period.
Once atrial fibrillation develops, patient care has primarily focused on the risk of stroke, but other complications such as heart failure and heart attack have yet to be fully explored.
To address this knowledge gap, researchers analysed national data for 3.5 million Danish adults with no history of atrial fibrillation at age 45 or older to see whether they developed atrial fibrillation over a 23 year period (2000-22).
Atrial fibrillation
Atrial fibrillation (A-fib or AF) is a type of irregular heartbeat (arrhythmia) that starts in the upper chambers of your heart (atria).
In a normal heart, electrical signals coordinate the heart's beating.
In atrial fibrillation, these signals become disorganized, causing the atria to quiver instead of beating effectively.
There are three main types of atrial fibrillation:
Paroxysmal Afib: This type comes and goes, lasting less than a week and often stopping on its own without treatment.
Persistent Afib: This type lasts longer than a week and may require treatment to get your heart back into a normal rhythm.
Long-standing persistent Afib: This type of Afib has been present for a long time and may be difficult to treat.
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