Atrial Fibrillation News and Research

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Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common arrhythmia. An arrhythmia is a problem with the speed or rhythm of the heartbeat. A disorder in the heart’s electrical system causes AF and other types of arrhythmia. AF occurs when rapid, disorganized electrical signals in the heart’s two upper chambers, called the atria, cause them to contract very fast and irregularly (this is called fibrillation). As a result, blood pools in the atria and isn’t pumped completely into the heart’s two lower chambers, called the ventricles. When this happens, the heart’s upper and lower chambers don’t work together as they should. Often, people who have AF may not even feel symptoms. However, even when not noticed, AF can lead to an increased risk of stroke. In many patients, particularly when the rhythm is extremely rapid, AF can cause chest pain, heart attack, or heart failure. AF may occur rarely or every now and then, or it may become a persistent or permanent heart rhythm lasting for years.

Smartphones can be used to identify atrial fibrillation with existing hardware

Smartphones can be used to detect atrial fibrillation with existing hardware, according to research presented at ESC Congress 2016 today.1 A low-cost application (app) has been developed that uses the phone's own accelerometer and gyroscope to check for atrial fibrillation.

28 Aug 2016

First ESC Guidelines on Atrial Fibrillation published online

The first European Society of Cardiology (ESC) Guidelines on Atrial Fibrillation developed in collaboration with the European Association for Cardio-Thoracic Surgery (EACTS) are published online today in European Heart Journal and the European Journal of Cardio-Thoracic Surgery, and on the ESC Website.

27 Aug 2016

Atomic level analysis reveals how two classes of calcium channel blockers produce different effects

An atomic level analysis has revealed how two classes of calcium channel blockers, widely prescribed for heart disease patients, produce separate therapeutic effects through their actions at different sites on the calcium channel molecule.

25 Aug 2016

Next generation wearables for health monitoring: an interview with Dr Steven LeBoeuf

Wearables have proliferated in the marketplace, but there's still a lot of opportunity for growth. One of the ways in which wearables are limited is that people expect their wearables to really measure what they feel is important to be measured

18 Aug 2016

Increased parental longevity linked to lower risk of cardiovascular conditions in offspring

In middle aged populations, the risks of cardiovascular conditions are progressively lower the longer a person's parents lived past 69 years old, according to a study of 186,000 participants using a voluntary database published today in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

16 Aug 2016

Commonly-used stroke prevention drug may not control blood clotting over long term

Warfarin prescribed to prevent strokes in atrial fibrillation may not adequately control blood clotting over the long-term, even when patients have been historically stable on the drug, according to a study from the Duke Clinical Research Institute.

9 Aug 2016

New report reveals high levels of caffeine in energy drinks could lead to cardiac complications

The high levels of caffeine in energy drinks may lead to cardiac complications, suggests a case report in the July/August Journal of Addiction Medicine, the official journal of the American Society of Addiction Medicine. The journal is published by Wolters Kluwer.

2 Aug 2016

Andy Murray becomes brand ambassador for Scotland’s DHI

International tennis superstar Andy Murray has teamed up with one of Scotland’s leading innovation centres to highlight the potential of technology to provide more efficient and effective health and care services in the UK and across the world.

21 Jul 2016

Study identifies ten potentially modifiable risk factors for stroke

Hypertension remains the single most important modifiable risk factor for stroke, and the impact of hypertension and nine other risk factors together account for 90% of all strokes, according to an analysis of nearly 27000 people from every continent in the world, published in The Lancet.

19 Jul 2016

Study finds link between AF and reduced frontal lobe brain volumes

According to a recent Framingham Heart Study, people who experience the heart arrhythmia atrial fibrillation (AF), may also suffer from a smaller brain, specifically reduced frontal lobe volume.

11 Jul 2016

Aggressive home blood pressure monitoring may contribute to rise in emergency department visits

Visits to emergency departments for patients with hypertension increased by 64 percent between 2002 and 2012 while hospitalizations for those visits declined by 28 percent.

7 Jul 2016

Novel blood coagulation analyzer may help detect stroke risk in AF patients

Researchers at Tokyo Medical and Dental University show that an analyzer recently developed to measure blood coagulability has the sensitivity to detect hypercoagulatibility associated with stroke risk in those without atrial fibrillation

4 Jul 2016

'Comprehensive' management approach needed for AF

Death is a bigger risk than stroke among patients with atrial fibrillation, particularly during the first 4 months after diagnosis, research shows.

2 Jul 2016

Unidentified valvular heart disease very common in elderly

Over half of community-living elderly people are likely to have valvular heart disease, show findings of OxVALVE-PCS.

30 Jun 2016

Pharmacotherapy reduces conduction system disease risk

Lisinopril therapy significantly reduces incident conduction system disease, indicates a post-hoc analysis of ALLHAT data.

28 Jun 2016

Mathematical model helps investigate mechanisms involved in genesis of AF-related dementia

Atrial fibrillation (AF), the most common cardiac arrhythmia, turns out to be a potential mechanism into the genesis of AF-related cognitive impairment/dementia.

28 Jun 2016

Cardiologist Emelia Benjamin receives AHA 2016 Gold Heart Award

Emelia J. Benjamin, MD, ScM, FACC, FAHA, professor of medicine in the section of cardiovascular medicine at Boston University School of Medicine, is the recipient of the American Heart Association's 2016 Gold Heart Award.

25 Jun 2016

Race impacts adverse outcomes in atrial fibrillation

Black individuals with atrial fibrillation have markedly higher rates of stroke, heart failure, coronary heart disease and mortality than their White counterparts, data from the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities study show.

24 Jun 2016

NOACs match warfarin for atrial fibrillation

Real-world study data from Denmark show that non-vitamin K antagonist oral anticoagulants are effective alternatives to warfarin in patients with non-valvular atrial fibrillation in a routine care setting.

23 Jun 2016

Cardiac surgery patients who received omega-3 supplementation experience reduced hospital stays

A new meta-analysis published in Clinical Nutrition found that cardiac surgery patients who received omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (compared to placebo) in advance of surgery experienced reduced postoperative cardiac arrhythmias and significantly reduced the length of hospital stay by up to 2.4 days. The results are based on 11 RCT's with 1038 patients.

21 Jun 2016