Doctors & patients are saying about 'A-Fib.com'...
"A-Fib.com is a great web site for patients, that is unequaled by anything else out there."
Dr. Douglas L. Packer, MD, FHRS, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN
"Jill and I put you and your work in our prayers every night. What you do to help people through this [A-Fib] process is really incredible."
Jill and Steve Douglas, East Troy, WI
“I really appreciate all the information on your website as it allows me to be a better informed patient and to know what questions to ask my EP.
Faye Spencer, Boise, ID, April 2017
“I think your site has helped a lot of patients.”Dr. Hugh G. Calkins, MD Johns Hopkins,
Baltimore, MD
A-Fib Produces More Ischemic Strokes, Despite Improvements in Stroke Prevention
A good friend of ours with A-Fib recently had a crippling ischemic stroke, even though her INR on Coumadin was 2.5, right in the middle of the desired range. Her left side is paralyzed. It’s heartbreaking to eat dinner with her and watch food dribble from the side of her mouth. She’s getting good care and physical therapy, but she will probably never recover fully.
A-Fib Ischemic Stroke All Too Common
A recent retrospective study of more than 930,000 stroke patients found that 20% of acute ischemic stroke patients had A-Fib in 2014, up from 16% in 2003.
CT brain with Ischemic stroke
And despite recent improvements in stroke treatment outcomes (and stroke prevention), the negative effect of A-Fib was pretty much the same over the 12-year period of the study. Nearly 10% of A-Fib stroke patients died (“mortality”), compared to about 6% for patients without A-Fib.
According to co-author Dr. Mohamad Alkhouli of West Virginia University in Morgantown,
…the prevalence of A-Fib among patients admitted with acute ischemic stroke is rising, especially among white and elderly patients.
A-Fib stroke patients in this study were older (82 versus 70 years), more likely to be female (59.3% versus 51.8%, and Caucasian (80.6% versus 67.3%). (Females on average live about 5 years longer than males. Increased stroke probably relates to the fact that females live longer than males rather than female gender. See Being a Woman Not a Risk Factor for Stroke)
A-Fib Ischemic Stroke Worse Than “Normal” Stroke
The authors found that A-Fib patients were more likely to receive thrombolytic therapy. But even so, they showed worse outcomes, with 9.9% dying versus 6.1% of the non-A-Fib patients. And the A-Fib group had a higher rate of acute kidney injury, bleeding, infectious complications, and severe disability. They had longer hospital stays, higher costs of care, and more non-home discharges.
Danger of Hemorrhagic Stroke
This study didn’t investigate hemorrhagic stroke which is more likely to happen with increased age. 99% of people over age 65 have microbleeds in the brain. Taking anticoagulants to decrease the risk of an ischemic stroke can turn these microbleeds into full hemorrhagic strokes. Older A-Fib patients are between a rock and a hard place. See Anticoagulants Risky over Age 65.
Don’t Just Live With Your A-Fib
Living with A-Fib, especially as you get older, is often a death sentence. Don’t settle for a life on meds. Seek your cure!
