- A new genetic study provides more evidence that high blood pressure is a major risk factor for atrial fibrillation.
- Previous research has shown a link between the two situations. Now a new study strongly supports high blood pressure as the driving factor.
- Treating high blood pressure may help reduce the risk of atrial fibrillation.
A new genetic study provides further evidence that high blood pressure, or hip hypertension, may cause atrial fibrillation (AFib), the most common type of irregular heart rhythm.
Although previous research has shown a link between the two conditions, the new study, published online Feb. 9 in the European Journal of Preventive Physiology, strongly supports high blood pressure as the driving factor.
“The link between high blood pressure and atrial fibrillation has been known for many years,” said Dr. Todd Hurst, a cardiologist at Banner – University’s Institute of Cardiac Medicine. He was not involved in the new investigation.
“While this study is a new way of causing causation and not just a link, the main benefit is the confirmation of high blood pressure as the cause of AFib,” he said.
There will be approximately 12.1 million people in the United States with AFib by 2030, according to the
In addition to causing an irregular heart rate, this condition can lead to lightheadedness, extreme obesity, shortness of breath, and chest pain.
AFib also increases the risk of stroke, accounts for approx
Earlier
However, due to the fact that previous studies were designed, the results did not provide a complete picture of how these two scenarios are related.
“Previous speculative studies have linked high blood pressure to atrial fibrillation,” said Dr. Victoria Shin, a cardiologist with Torrance Memorial Medical Center. “Until this inspection, however, we were unsure whether there was significant tolerance reason of atrial fibrillation… or just the company it maintains. ”
Making things difficult, both conditions share many of the same risk factors – including old age, obesity, diabetes, and inflammation – that may explain why high blood pressure and AFib often occur together.
To better understand how the two conditions are related, the authors of the new study examined genetic data from more than 1 million people of European ancestry.
Their analysis suggests that when the two conditions occur together, high blood pressure is the cause of AFib.
This would mean that in many cases, it is possible to prevent AFib through medication and lifestyle changes that reduce high blood pressure.
“With others [similar genetic] studies, our findings confirm the notion that [AFib] it is preventable, ”the authors of the new study wrote.
Shin said the size of this new research group was impressive. In addition, the use of genetic analysis to examine the link between hypertension and AFib – and to take into account other risk factors – was an “innovative” approach.
However, Shin warns that, since the participants included in the study were all of European descent, the results may not be directly related to other racial or ethnic groups.
Dr. David Stuhlmiller, of RWJBarnabas Health and Hospital Emergency Medicine Services and Robert Wood Johnson Rahway University Hospital, said the study makes medical sense, given what we know about the causes of AFib.
“We understand that atrial fibrillation is caused by stretching of the heart chambers,” he said. This can stretch the muscles and disturb the conduction of electrical signals through the heart.
“Because hypertension stretches the heart muscle,” he says, “it naturally follows that hip endurance can contribute to the development of atrial fibrillation. ”
However, Stuhlmiller said there are some limitations in the study.
One, researchers did not provide information on whether study participants were receiving treatment for high blood pressure with medications such as beta blockers or angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors.
By lowering blood pressure, these treatments may have reduced a person’s risk for developing AFib, which may have affected the results of the genetic analysis.
Stuhlmiller also said the study would be more clinically useful if the authors were able to show the extent to which blood pressure – both systolic and diastolic – needed to be reduced to reduce a person’s risk for AFib.
High blood pressure is not just a risk factor for AFib. It is also a
This means that managing high blood pressure is an important health goal for anyone, but especially for people who already have AFib.
“For those with AFib, it is very important to know that blood pressure treatment – as well as being physically active, treats sleep apnea, avoids excessive alcohol consumption, and for those who lose weight. is too heavy – a very effective strategy for handling AFib, ”said Hurst.