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Doctors & patients are saying about 'Beat Your A-Fib'...


"If I had [your book] 10 years ago, it would have saved me 8 years of hell.”

Roy Salmon, Patient, A-Fib Free,
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"This book is incredibly complete and easy-to-understand for anybody. I certainly recommend it for patients who want to know more about atrial fibrillation than what they will learn from doctors...."

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"Within the pages of Beat Your A-Fib, Dr. Steve Ryan, PhD, provides a comprehensive guide for persons seeking to find a cure for their Atrial Fibrillation."

Walter Kerwin, MD, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA


50-year Trends in Atrial Fibrillation: More A-Fib but Less Stroke

An analysis of 50 years of data from the Framingham Heart Study reveals good news and bad news for A-Fib patients.

Sadly, the number of people with A-Fib has more than quadrupled over the last 50 years!!!

But happily there was a 75% reduction in stroke rate (1998-2007 compared to 1958-1967). And, there was a 25% reduction in mortality after diagnosis of A-Fib.

What This Means to Patients: The Good News

A-Fib heart cloud Seek Your Cure 400 pix wide at 96 res with CC labelThanks in large part to warfarin (and the development of catheter ablation procedures), stroke rates over the years have declined by an amazing 75%. (Note: the new anticoagulants weren’t in use until after this study.)

As much bad press as warfarin has received and with all of warfarin’s bad side effects, we have to recognize that warfarin kept a lot of people from having a stroke. For years warfarin was the only game in town. Warfarin saved a lot of lives and disabling strokes.

New Therapies to Stop A-Fib and Prevent Stroke

The authors of this study talk about “therapeutic successes for atrial fibrillation” which have increased survival. Catheter ablation (and surgery) have certainly given A-Fib patients hope of a cure, when before all they could do is live with A-Fib and die from it.

New Anticoagulants (NOACs) Likely to Further Reduce Stroke Rate

The new anticoagulants (NOACs) will likely further reduce the A-Fib stroke rate. Eliquis, in particular, may be a major improvement over warfarin. Eliquis tested better with a better safety record than the other NOACs.

What This Means to Patients: The Bad News

Four times more people are developing A-Fib compared to the last five decades. A-Fib has rightly been called an epidemic. One out of four people over 40 will develop A-Fib in their lifetime. Today 1 out of 10 people over 80 years old has A-Fib.

Silent (no symptoms) A-Fib has emerged as a major killer. Of those who suffer a stroke, 20% later discover that they had silent A-Fib which probably caused their stroke.

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

There has been a huge increase in the number of Electrophysiologists (EPs) performing catheter ablations to make people A-Fib free, thereby reducing their stroke risk to that of a normal person.

But even if all the EPs were perfectly trained and could work 24-hour days 7 days a week, they would barely put a dent in the huge number of new people developing A-Fib.

We may be facing a future where many new A-Fib patients may have to rely on drugs to cope with A-Fib.

But the current record for drug therapy isn’t good. There haven’t been any new antiarrhythmic drugs developed to stop A-Fib (with the possible exception of Tikosyn). Almost all current antiarrhythmic drugs either have bad side effects or aren’t effective for most patients. And if they do work, they often lose their effectiveness over time.

Takeaway

Don’t let this data discourage you. Seek your cure NOW. See an electrophysiologist about treatment options to cure your A-Fib.

References for this article
Harrison, Pam. Prevalence and Incidence of AF Increasing, but AF-Related Stroke Declining. The Heart.org. Medscape Multispecialty. July 15, 2015. http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/848031.

Schnabel RB, Yin X, Gona P, et al. 50-year trends in atrial-fibrillation prevalence, incidence, risk factors, and mortality in the Framingham Heart Study: A cohort study. Lancet 2015; 386:154-162. http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(14)61774-8/abstract

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