- Thank you for visiting this video segment for Dr. Afib.
I'm Dr. Morales.
In today's video segment, we're going to be discussing
why is atrial fibrillation growing.
Why are more and more people getting atrial fibrillation?
And if you think that this video
is something that is worthwhile,
something that somebody else could learn from,
please throw me a like or a comment or share
because that's how these ideas grow.
So in this segment, we're going to be talking about
why is atrial fibrillation growing?
In some recent estimates, I believe it's 2014,
the estimates were over 30 million people
across the world have atrial fibrillation.
Every day, it is growing.
Every day, there are more people being diagnosed
with atrial fibrillation.
And this is a question that I frequently get,
even recently on our Facebook group.
Somebody was asking,
"Why are more and more people getting atrial fibrillation?"
And when people ask me this question,
I usually tell them, well it's...
The consequences of increasing Afib are good and bad.
And let me explain why I say it in that way.
There are several risk factors for developing Afib,
which are increasing.
One of the most common reasons,
or one of the most common risk factors
for developing atrial fibrillation is advanced age.
As people get to the ages of 70 and 80 years old,
the significance of the amount of people
having atrial fibrillation increases dramatically.
If you see a graph of age and atrial fibrillation,
there's a significant increase
as people reach 70 and 80 years old.
And now thanks to modern medicine,
there are more people living healthy, active lives
at 70 and 80 years old than there were ever before.
So there is more people at those age ranges now
than ever before,
which is meaning more episodes,
more people developing atrial fibrillation.
Another common risk factor
for developing atrial fibrillation
is having had past heart disease.
If you've had a heart attack in the past,
or you've had something
what's called congestive heart failure
or you've had surgery on your heart in the past.
Those are all risk factors
for eventually developing atrial fibrillation.
And again thanks to modern medicine,
people are surviving heart attacks.
They are surviving longer with congestive heart failure
than ever before because of all the advances in medications
and treatment for congestive heart failure.
People who have had surgery on their heart
are doing well and living for decades to come.
And so living longer after already having heart disease,
increases your risk for atrial fibrillation.
Also even simple risk factors like diabetes
and high blood pressure.
The medications are getting better,
so people are living longer with these conditions.
Afib, to kind of explain it simply,
is a bit of a disease of wear and tear on your heart
and on your body.
As the years go by, whether it's,
you've had heart disease in the past,
or just the natural process of aging,
you get more scar tissue inside of your heart,
particularly in your atrium.
They become more dilated
and these end up leading to
more episodes of atrial fibrillation.
So it's good that people are living longer
and they are surviving heart disease
and they're living longer with heart disease.
That is all good,
but the bad part is that it is increasing
the amount of people who are having atrial fibrillation
because as, like I said, in essence,
Afib is a disease of the wear and tear of your heart
that comes from other conditions.
So that's a lot of the reasons why
more people are getting atrial fibrillation.
But what this doesn't explain
and something that even I would say
that I don't really understand why this is happening
or don't know why this is happening
and what the answer is to this,
but there's also more people
having atrial fibrillation who are younger.
I'm seeing more people with atrial fibrillation
who are in their 30s and 40s
and it's not rare,
but I have had one or two even in their 20s
that have had atrial fibrillation,
which would have been extremely unusual
10 years ago to see such young people
with atrial fibrillation.
And so why are even younger people
also getting atrial fibrillation?
I don't think that there is an answer out there right now.
Some of it can certainly be genetics.
Most people that are younger who have atrial fibrillation
do have a pretty strong family history.
Obesity is a risk factor for having atrial fibrillation,
so whether obesity affects getting atrial fibrillation
in a younger patient population,
that certainly is a possibility.
But I've had younger people
who have had atrial fibrillation who are not obese
and do not have a family history.
So I think that there are certain things
that we just still don't understand
whether it's the genetics of it,
whether there's something going on in people's lives
and lifestyles now that are affecting
the quality of our health
and affecting people getting Afib at even younger ages.
And so this, I think this is something that I look forward
to seeing more data about.
Because having Afib at a younger age could mean
decades of treatment and monitoring,
and so we need to understand better,
especially in this younger patient population,
why is this happening to them
and how can we better manage it and protect them
for the long term?
I think that's something that still needs to be understood,
and I look forward to seeing more data and research
about those topics.
But Afib is growing
and we need to accept that it's here
and we need to be vigilant about treatment strategies
for not only the short term, but also for the long term
for several patients.
Thank you for visiting this video segment for Dr. Afib.
I'll see you next time.