

3 The death rate from AFib as the primary or a contributing cause of death has been rising for more than two decades. 4 The condition contributes to about 158,000 deaths each year. More than 454,000 hospitalizations with AFib as the primary diagnosis happen each year in the United States. Medicine and healthy lifestyle changes to manage AFib risk factors.Blood-thinning medicine to prevent blood clots from forming and reduce stroke risk.Medicines to control the heart’s rhythm and rate.Strokes happen when blood flow to the brain is blocked by a blood clot or by fatty deposits called plaque in the blood vessel lining. Strokes caused by complications from AFib tend to be more severe than strokes with other underlying causes. When standard stroke risk factors were accounted for, AFib was associated with an approximately fivefold increased risk of ischemic stroke. Enlargement of the chambers on the left side of the heartĪFib increases a person’s risk for stroke.High blood pressure, the risk for which also increases with advancing age, accounts for about 1 in 5 cases of AFib. Heart palpitations (rapid, fluttering, or pounding).Others may experience one or more of the following symptoms: Some people who have AFib don’t know they have it and don’t have any symptoms. Because the number of AFib cases increases with age and women generally live longer than men, more women than men experience AFib.People of European descent are more likely to have AFib than African Americans.In 2019, AFib was mentioned on 183,321 death certificates and was the underlying cause of death in 26,535 of those deaths.It is estimated that 12.1 million people in the United States will have AFib in 2030.
