How Can Atrial Fibrillation Risk be Reduced?
Which of the following has not been proven to reduce the risks of onset and recurrent atrial fibrillation?
a. weight loss
b. treatment of obstructive sleep apnea
c. influenza vaccination
d. regular exercise
e. they all reduce the risks
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Answer: c
Losing weight, exercise, and solving sleep apnea have all been proven to reduce the risk of atrial fibrillation (AF). Although a direct link between influenza and AF hasn’t yet been definitively shown, an observational study of more than 11,000 Taiwanese patients with newly diagnosed AF who were matched against patients without AF showed unvaccinated patients were 18% more likely to develop AF.
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Vaccination also lowered the risk of AF across a wide sample of patients, according to the study. The researchers recommended that healthcare providers keep the findings in mind when patients with influenza complain of heart palpitations or experience ischemic stroke. They said the findings suggested that influenza is an important risk factor for AF and that the flu vaccine should be recommended and encouraged for patients with characteristics that make them susceptible to AF, including advanced age, hypertension, congestive heart failure, heart valve disease, and thyroid disorders.
Dr. Bradley Knight, a professor of medicine at Northwestern University in Chicago who was not involved in the research, said the flu vaccine could be another simple and cost-effective way to prevent AF. The study showed that AF seems to be triggered by states of inflammation and acute illness, according to Dr. Knight, who said the findings highlighted the need to find out if treating influenza infection with viral neuraminidase-blocking drugs or managing the infection’s associated inflammatory response would reduce the risk of AF. What’s most important, he said, is the observation that the influenza vaccine helped prevent AF. That was a new, if not surprising, observation, according to Dr. Knight, who said the study adds to the evidence that shows why the influenza vaccine should be promoted for many health-related reasons (Heart Rhythm. 2016;13(6):1189-94).--Dan Cook
