Living With Atrial Fibrillation Australia

This increases the chance of blood pooling in the heart and forming clots.

Living with atrial fibrillation australia.

For some people the irregular heartbeat of atrial fibrillation afib never causes a problem. Download the guidelines. It can happen in both men and women and at any age. This is because atrial fibrillation reduces your heart s ability to pump blood properly.

Atrial fibrillation occurs when one or both of the upper chambers of the heart the atria quiver or fibrillate rather than beat normally. Most people diagnosed with af have no family history of it. 2 it may occur in isolation or secondary to structural heart disease hypertension myocardial ischaemia and infarction hyperthyroidism obesity and. Atrial fibrillation is a major cause of stroke in australia.

Don t ignore the warning signs. Atrial fibrillation is a form of irregular heart rate or arrhythmia. Atrial fibrillation is associated with high blood pressure heart disease diabetes and lung cancer. Atrial fibrillation af is the most common recurring arrhythmia faced in clinical practice.

About 90 of people with af are under 75 years of age. When your doctor diagnoses you with atrial fibrillation afib you might wonder what to expect. Atrial fibrillation is associated with one in four strokes. For others it can lead to strokes and heart attacks or heart failure.

It s estimated that af is prevalent in two to four per cent of the population in developed nations such as australia and causes substantial morbidity and mortality. Some people with afib have no symptoms at all while others can have symptoms so severe they result in stroke heart attack or heart failure symptoms of afib can include dizziness fatigue weakness rapid and irregular heartbeats shortness of breath and. Atrial fibrillation is the most common sustained cardiac arrhythmia occurring in 1 2 of the population of the developed world. People with atrial fibrillation are five times more likely to have a stroke than those without.

Your prognosis is a prediction of how your disease could affect you in the future and how long you.