An analysis of clinical data by researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital has found that radiofrequency (RF)-based ablation has a success rate of 85.7% treating atrial fibrillation (AF) one year after the procedure. Of those patients who responded, nearly 90% were able to cease taking antiarrhythmic drugs, according to the…

Research led by the University of Pittsburgh suggests that more attention should be paid to people with atrial fibrillation who are younger than 65 years, as they have considerable health issues and a significantly increased risk of dying compared with the general population. “Common knowledge among cardiologists is that, in…

The American College of Cardiology (ACC) and the American Heart Association (AHA), in collaboration with other medical associations, have released a new comprehensive guideline for the prevention and management of atrial fibrillation (AFib). Published simultaneously in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology and Circulation, the guideline addresses how…

A new artificial intelligence (AI) algorithm developed by researchers at the Smidt Heart Institute at Cedars-Sinai has shown that it can identify patients with atrial fibrillation who are not yet showing symptoms of the cardiac condition, the most common heart rhythm disorder. The tool has potential diagnostic implications that could…

A large study finds that catheter ablation is linked to almost 50% lower risk of dementia and lower deaths in all types of patients with atrial fibrillation. The research was reported in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society. It included more than 40,000 individuals with atrial fibrillation (AF) who…

A patient questionnaire was used to help design a new software tool to improve management of elderly atrial fibrillation patients with multiple conditions. The investigators defined 22 comorbidities that are common in these patients and then created concise care pathways to guide effective management of certain types of patients. The…

Newly-diagnosed atrial fibrillation (AF), or an irregular heart rhythm, gave individuals a modestly elevated risk of developing dementia in a large California-based study of diverse adults. Risk was higher in younger adults and those without chronic kidney disease, but did not substantially vary across sex, race, or ethnicity. The authors…

Genetic analysis in more than a million people has identified new risk loci for atrial fibrillation (AF), in the largest such study of cardiac arrhythmias to date. A subsequently developed polygenic risk score (PRS) was able to predict an increased risk of stroke and death from cardiovascular disease among at-risk…

Research from the Smidt Heart Institute at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center suggests women are actually at higher risk of developing atrial fibrillation than men when sex-related body size differences are accounted for. These results differ from earlier studies suggesting women are less likely to experience heart beat abnormalities such as atrial…

A large-scale international study led by Mount Sinai researchers has yielded the first risk score to help predict mortality among patients with atrial fibrillation after undergoing a successful transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR). They found that the mortality rate was more than double in the “moderate-risk” patients and triple in the…

A genome-wide association study (GWAS) of more than 1,000,000 people has identified 111 loci for risk of developing atrial fibrillation, of which 80 had not been previously implicated in risk for the heart condition. The research was conducted at the University of Michigan and the Norwegian University of Science and…

An eye-opening study estimates 10.5 million Americans—nearly five percent of the population—have atrial fibrillation (A-Fib), a dangerous but highly treatable arrhythmia. The new report from researchers at University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) is the first national estimate of the condition in two decades. Earlier projections had estimated that only…

Women who undergo open heart surgery are less likely to experience abnormal heart rhythm, known as atrial fibrillation, after surgery than men but those who do develop this complication are at greater risk for early death than their male counterparts. The study, published in JAMA Network Open and led by…

Combining rare genetic variants for atrial fibrillation (AF) with a polygenic risk score flags up considerable risk for this common heart arrhythmia, research shows. The findings in more than 400,000 people provide an insight into the genetics underpinning AF and could aid future genetic risk stratification. They suggest both rare…

Supermarket carts could help diagnose atrial fibrillation (AF), according to research presented at a scientific meeting today. A single lead electrocardiogram (ECG) sensor in cart handles was able to identify the cardiac arrhythmia in 39 shoppers previously unaware they had the condition. The findings were presented this afternoon in Scotland…