What are the risks of atrial fibrillation?

Arteriovenous Heart

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common persistent arrhythmia. The incidence of atrial fibrillation increases with age and can reach 10% in people over 75 years of age. When atrial fibrillation, the atrial excitation frequency of 300 to 600 times/minute, the heartbeat frequency is often fast and irregular, sometimes up to 100 to 160 times/minute, not only much faster than the normal heartbeat, but also absolutely irregular, the atrium loses the effective contraction function. The prevalence of atrial fibrillation is also closely related to coronary heart disease, hypertension and heart failure.

Symptoms of atrial fibrillation:

1. Palpitations: feel rapid heartbeat, accompanied by fatigue or fatigue;

2. Vertigo: dizziness or even fainting;

3. Chest discomfort: pain, pressure or discomfort in the precardiac area;

4. Shortness of breath: Feel difficult to breathe during light physical activity or rest, some patients may have no symptoms.

In atrial fibrillation, the atrium loses its systolic function, and blood is easy to stagnate in the heart chamber and form thrombosis. After the thrombus falls off, it can follow the blood to the whole body, resulting in cerebral embolism (stroke) and limb artery embolism (even amputation in severe cases).

Dangers of atrial fibrillation:

1. Cause cerebral infarction:

Patients with atrial fibrillation are prone to thrombosis in the heart, and atrial fibrillation is easy to make thrombus shedding, shedding thrombus along with blood vessels to the brain, easy to cause cerebral infarction.

2. Cause heart failure:

The harm of atrial fibrillation is also manifested in that long-term atrial fibrillation can lead to the lack of effective contraction of the atrium, the heartbeat is extremely irregular, the ventricular filling is incomplete, the cardiac output is significantly reduced, and it is easy to cause heart failure.

3. Induce sudden death:

Atrial fibrillation is the most independent risk factor for stroke, with 20% of stroke events associated with atrial fibrillation. 35% of patients with atrial fibrillation will have one or more thromboembolic events during their lifetime

How to prevent atrial fibrillation?

1. Develop good living habits and lifestyle. Maintaining a happy state of mind is the most basic in the prevention of atrial fibrillation, because the sympathetic nerve in the body will be activated when people are nervous, which can promote the occurrence of fast atrial fibrillation; Control your weight, increase regular physical activity, quit smoking, and limit alcohol consumption.

2. Limit or avoid long-term use of caffeine containing substances such as tea, coffee, cola and some over-the-counter drugs, use caution to treat some cough or cold medications, because these drugs may contain irritants, prone to promote irregular heart rhythm.

3. to control the relevant risk factors. Hypertensive patients should actively control blood pressure levels, and often monitor to keep blood pressure at a reasonable level, reduce blood pressure fluctuations, because long-term hypertension can cause atrial enlargement, atrial fibrosis, resulting in atrial fibrillation.

4. Drugs to prevent atrial fibrillation: angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors, angiotensin receptor blockers, aldosterone receptor antagonists. Reduce atrial ventricular pressure, reduce atrial fibrosis, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and other effects to prevent the occurrence of atrial fibrillation.