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

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,
Adelaide, Australia

"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...."

Pierre Jaïs, M.D. Professor of Cardiology, Haut-Lévêque Hospital, Bordeaux, France

"Dear Steve, I saw a patient this morning with your book [in hand] and highlights throughout. She loves it and finds it very useful to help her in dealing with atrial fibrillation."

Dr. Wilber Su,
Cavanaugh Heart Center, Phoenix, AZ

"...masterful. You managed to combine an encyclopedic compilation of information with the simplicity of presentation that enhances the delivery of the information to the reader. This is not an easy thing to do, but you have been very, very successful at it."

Ira David Levin, heart patient,
Rome, Italy

"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

Study of Dementia Risk: Catheter Ablation for A-Fib Versus Drug Therapy Alone

Published May 30, 2023

Historically, dementia in patients with A-Fib was attributed to strokes.

Recently it has become clear that A-Fib is associated with multiple forms of dementia even in the absence of stroke.

… A-Fib is associated with multiple forms of dementia even in the absence of stroke.

According to research, dementia may be attributable to alterations in neurological hemodynamics and brain activity that are associated with both dementia and depression.

As anyone with an aging loved one suffering from dementia can tell you, dementia is a major health problem. In the U.S., dementia is predicted to affect more than 10.5 million Americans by 2050.

Research: Risks of Ablation vs. Drug Therapy

In an observational study, researchers compared A-Fib patients who had a catheter ablation to those treated with drug therapy alone.

They used the 2010 to 2021 data from a large, nationally representative claims database (Optum Clinformatics Data) to identify 19,088 A-Fib patients. They then divided these patients into two groups: those receiving a catheter ablation vs those receiving anti-arrhythmic drug (AAD) therapy alone.

Findings: Risks of Dementia and Mortality

Dementia Risk: They found that catheter ablation for A-Fib was associated with a 41% lower risk of dementia compared to patients treated only with anti-arrhythmic drug therapy. This dementia risk reduction held across both males and females.

A lower Mortality Risk means you are less likely to die prematurely from one cause versus any other cause of death.

Mortality Risk: Though not studied as a primary outcome, researchers found patients treated with catheter ablation also had a 49% lower rick of mortality compared with anti-arrhythmic drug therapy only.

What This Means to Patients

Catheter Ablation, by reducing the risk of dementia by 41%, is a major advance in our knowledge about health care for A-Fib patients.

This is yet another reason to get a catheter ablation ASAP in order to be A-Fib free.

Research

Zeitler, E. et al. Comparative risk of dementia among patients with atrial fibrillation threated with catheter ablation versus anti-arrhythmic drugs. Science Direct, American Heart Journal, Available online 20 September 2022. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0002870322001922. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ahj.2022.09.007.