September is National Atrial Fibrillation Awareness Month!
We all know someone who's had a heart scare – an unusual flutter or disconcerting palpitations. The potential cause? A little-known and often silent heart health problem, atrial fibrillation (AFib), is the most common heart rhythm (arrhythmia) disorder and can strike anyone.
AFib is easy to miss, leading to high-stakes health consequences: if AFib is not properly diagnosed and promptly treated, it can lead to severe health complications including stroke, heart failure and more. Early detection and treatment are critical. Delayed diagnosis and treatment allow health complications to progress, making the condition more lethal. Consider the following:
AFib can happen to anyone: There is 1 in 4 lifetime risk of getting AFib. It can strike anyone regardless of age, gender, background and general health status.
AFib is more common than many think: An estimated 6.1 million people in the U.S. have AFib, a number projected to balloon to 12 million by 2030
AFib is a silent intruder: While some people with AFib experience some of the more common symptoms (heart palpitations lightheadedness, extreme fatigue, shortness of breath), many don’t have any symptoms; in fact, approximately 1/3 of AFib patients are asymptomatic at the time of diagnosis.
The path to diagnosing AFib has not always been straightforward. Consumer wearable devices, like a smartwatch, might alert you about AFib but cannot diagnose you because they are not medical grade. Older technology doesn’t work for accurate detection, either. Symptoms may come and go, and with antiquated technology from the 1960’s (“Holter monitors”) still widely used today, these devices only record 24-48 hours of heart data and can miss detecting AFib.
However, new ECG heart monitors the size of a medium ‘Band-Aid’ continuously record your heart rhythms for up to 14 days, helping doctors more accurately diagnose AFib[6]. You can now wear these small, comfortable monitors during exercise, travel, showering, bathing, and sleeping. These new monitoring tools are the most effective way to diagnose AFib and protect yourself.
Mintu Turakhia, Cardiologist and Chief Medical Officer at iRhythm and Mellanie True Hills, AFib Patient advocate and creator of National Atrial Fibrillation Awareness Month and founder of StopAFib.org, a global patient advocacy organization, will be available for interviews to raise awareness of AFib and teach people what to do if they, or their loved ones, are at risk or concerned about the condition.
For more information please visit: https://www.StopAFib.org
Mintu Turakhia, MD, MAS, is the Chief Medical Officer, Chief Scientific Officer and Executive Vice President, Product Innovation at iRhythm. He is a Professor of Medicine at Stanford University and a practicing cardiologist and cardiac electrophysiologist (heart rhythm specialist) at the Palo Alto Veterans Affairs Hospital. Trained in computer science, medicine, biostatistics, and research, he brings over 20 years of experience in patient care, outcomes research and trials, data science and artificial intelligence, medical device regulation, and the creation and commercialization of digital health products. At Stanford, he was the co-founder and director of the Stanford Center for Digital Health, where he led a large multidisciplinary research program in heart rhythm disorders, real-world evidence, clinical trials, and digital health. He has led several large-scale trials of digital health tools and wearables for heart disease, including as co-principal investigator of the landmark Apple Heart Study, enrolling over 400,000 participants, and published in the New England Journal of Medicine. For 14 years, he served as Chief of Cardiac Electrophysiology at the VA Palo Alto Health Care System, where he developed a best-in-class, high volume arrhythmia care program and where he continues to treat patients with arrhythmia procedures.
Mellanie True Hills provides an atrial fibrillation patient perspective (now 17+ years AFib-free). She is an internationally known author and speaker and founder/CEO of StopAfib.org, a global afib patient advocacy organization and is the creator of AFib Awareness Month. She co-created MyAFibExperience.org with the American Heart Association.
WHHI Daily News Anchor: Ally McNair
September 2024
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