AFib More Common and Risky in People Under 65 Than Previously Thought: Study

More than 25 percent of patients studied were under 65. Previously, it was thought that roughly 2 percent of people in this age group had Afib.

Fotolia

Atrial fibrillation, a type of heart arrhythmia, is more common in people under the age of 65 than experts previously believed.

Often referred to as Afib, the heart condition has recently been shown to be particularly dangerous for young people, according to a new study published in Circulation: Arrhythmia and Electrophysiology. According to Johns Hopkins Medicine, Afib occurs when the heart’s upper chamber beats extremely fast and irregularly, typically at a rate of 400 beats per minute. During Afib, faulty electrical signals force the heart’s upper two chambers, known as the atria, to contract irregularly. The atria then fall out of sync with the lower chambers, the ventricles. When this happens, blood can get backed up, which could lead to blood clots and stroke. If Afib causes the lower chambers to beat too quickly, heart failure can occur.

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.