Atrial fibrillation, a type of heart arrhythmia, is more common in people under the age of 65 than experts previously believed.
Afib Over 12 Times More Common Than Previously Thought
The study is one of the first to look at a large group of Afib patients under 65 in the United States. Researchers found that young patients with Afib were more likely to be hospitalized for heart failure, stroke, or heart attack and had much higher rates of comorbidity or mortality compared to their peers without Afib.“Common knowledge among cardiologists is that, in people under 65, Afib is extremely uncommon and not detrimental. But there really hasn’t been any data to back that up,” Dr. Aditya Bhonsale, the study’s lead author and a cardiac electrophysiologist at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC), said in a press release.
The research team from the UPMC Heart and Vascular Institute reviewed more than 67,000 records of Afib cases between 2010 and 2019. Among the cases reviewed, 16 percent of the patients smoked, 55 percent had hypertension, 21 percent had diabetes, 20 percent had heart failure, 19 percent had heart disease, and 6 percent had prior ischemic stroke.
More than 25 percent of those patients were under 65. Previously, it was thought that roughly 2 percent of people in this age group had Afib, the research team noted.
According to Dr. Bhonsale, the high proportion likely reflects the increasing burden of cardiovascular risk factors in younger Americans. These risk factors include diabetes, smoking, obesity, unhealthy diets, and physical inactivity.
Dr. Bhonsale and his team found that over 10 years, survival rates for arrhythmia were 1.3 to 1.5 times worse for young men with Afib and 1.82 to 3.16 times worse for young women with it compared to people without the condition.
Furthermore, the research team found that the proportion of patients under 50 who were hospitalized more than once as a result of myocardial infarction, heart failure, and stroke was 1.3 percent, 4.8 percent, and 1.1 percent, respectively. The percentages increased to 2.2 percent, 7.4 percent, and 1.1 percent for ages 51 to 65.
How Do I Know if I Have Afib?
Afib is the most common type of cardiac arrhythmia. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) predicts that more than 12 million Americans will have Afib by the end of 2030. According to the Heart Rhythm Society, roughly one in four adults over the age of 40 are at risk of developing Afib. Common symptoms of Afib include chest pain, dizziness, fainting, extreme fatigue, palpitations, and shortness of breath. If you have any of these symptoms, seek medical attention.Risk factors include alcohol use, high levels of stress, high blood pressure, being tall, thyroid disease, sleep apnea or poor sleep hygiene, and being male.
