Screen-Detected Atrial Fibrillation Linked to Threefold Heart Failure Risk in Seniors

People with a common heart rhythm disorder have a tripled risk of heart failure, even if they aren’t showing any symptoms, a new study says. Patients whose silent atrial fibrillation was caught during a health screening had nearly 3.2 times higher odds of suffering from heart failure, researchers reported at a meeting of the European Heart Rhythm Association.

For the new study, researchers randomly assigned a group of 75- and 76-year-old patients to receive an ECG heart scan that can detect presence of atrial fibrillation. Others didn’t receive the scan and were used as a control group.

The study took place in two waves. In the first wave, more than 6,800 people were screened and 252 diagnosed with atrial fibrillation. In the second wave, more than 6,600 people were screened and 152 diagnosed with atrial fibrillation.

During follow-up of five to seven years, 23% of atrial fibrillation patients in the first group and 20% in the second group were later diagnosed with heart failure. Overall, people diagnosed with atrial fibrillation were 2.9 to 3.2 times more likely to develop heart failure compared to those without the heart rhythm disorder.

Notably, heart failure was diagnosed early in these patients, within six months of their atrial fibrillation being detected, researchers noted. In individuals with screening-detected AF, the risk of developing HF was threefold that of participants without AF and comparable to that of patients with clinically known AF.

Researchers said HF and AF have a bidirectional relationship and accelerate each other’s progression, and that the findings suggest asymptomatic AF is not a benign condition and highlight the need for early detection of both AF and HF.

The findings were presented Monday at the European Heart Rhythm Association meeting in Paris. Findings presented at medical meetings should be considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.