Got A-Fib? Shed Pounds Before Treatment to Stop Its Return

By Denise Mann
HealthDay Reporter

WEDNESDAY, April 6, 2022 (HealthDay News) — If you are one of many tens of millions of individuals with a standard coronary heart rhythm dysfunction known as atrial fibrillation (a-fib), dropping pounds earlier than therapy could improve the chances that your a-fib doesn’t come again.

In a brand new examine, sufferers with a-fib who have been chubby or overweight once they underwent ablation to appropriate their irregular coronary heart rhythm have been extra prone to expertise a return of a-fib than people who weren’t.

A-fib happens when the higher chambers of the center quiver chaotically, inflicting a quick and irregular heartbeat. Left undiagnosed or untreated, it dramatically raises danger for stroke and coronary heart failure. Ablation entails burning or freezing a small portion of the center to create a scar and stop the unfold of irregular electrical impulses.

“Overweight sufferers have the next danger of recurrent a-fib after ablation in comparison with normal-weight sufferers, and the danger of recurrent a-fib will increase incrementally by growing physique mass index,” stated examine creator Dr. Jacob Tønnesen, a heart specialist at Herlev-Gentofte University Hospital in Hellerup, Denmark.

“Aggressive weight administration, pre-ablation, in chubby sufferers may doubtlessly present substantial advantages and enhance short- and long-term outcomes after ablation,” he stated.

Exactly how a lot weight an individual with a-fib ought to lose earlier than ablation remedy isn’t recognized but.

“One examine discovered {that a} weight lack of 10% results in a considerably lowered burden of atrial fibrillation, however additional research on this are warranted,” Tønnesen stated.

For the examine, greater than 9,200 individuals in Denmark who underwent a first-time process for a-fib have been divided into 5 teams. The teams have been based mostly on their physique mass index (BMI), an estimate of physique fats based mostly on top and weight: underweight, regular weight, chubby, overweight and morbidly overweight. Researchers then in contrast BMI classes to danger of an a-fib recurrence.

Compared to people with a standard BMI, the chance of a-fib at one yr was 19% increased within the chubby group; 22% increased within the overweight group, and 32% within the morbidly overweight group.

The identical sample was additionally seen after 5 years, the examine confirmed. There was no distinction in relapse danger amongst people who have been underweight or regular weight. The findings held even after researchers managed for different components recognized to extend the danger of a-fib coming again.

Being chubby or overweight is as a lot of a danger for a-fib returning as coronary heart failure, persistent obstructive pulmonary illness (COPD) and hypertension — all of that are sometimes handled in individuals with a-fib, Tønnesen stated.

The examine was offered Monday at a gathering of the European Society of Cardiology, in Copenhagen, Denmark, and on-line. Findings offered at medical conferences are sometimes thought-about preliminary till revealed in a peer-reviewed journal.

Experts not a part of the examine agree that dropping pounds earlier than therapy for a-fib significantly will increase the chances of success.

People who’re chubby or overweight and wish ablation to appropriate a-fib are all the time endorsed to reduce weight first, stated Dr. Rachel-Maria Brown Talaska, director of inpatient cardiac providers at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City.

“Quite a lot of research point out that weight reduction is related to a discount in atrial fibrillation severity, bettering signs and recurrence charges,” she stated.

This is sensible from a coronary heart construction standpoint. “Weight loss has been related to a discount within the measurement of the left atrium, which tends to stretch with atrial fibrillation, with this bigger measurement predisposing to extra bouts of atrial fibrillation sooner or later,” Brown Talaska stated.

Dr. Deepak Bhatt, government director of interventional cardiovascular applications at Brigham and Women’s Hospital Heart and Vascular Center in Boston, agreed.

“This is a big and well-done examine which provides additional proof that individuals with atrial fibrillation who’re chubby ought to attempt to reduce weight,” he stated.

Prior research have made it pretty clear that extra weight contributes to the danger of creating a-fib, Bhatt stated.

“For individuals who have already got the situation, the danger of recurrence does appear to be decrease in the event that they reduce weight, particularly if their atrial fibrillation is so problematic that they want procedures, as on this examine,” he stated.

More data

The U.S. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute has extra data on atrial fibrillation (a-fib).

SOURCES: Jacob Tønnesen, MD, heart specialist, Herlev-Gentofte University Hospital, University of Copenhagen, Hellerup, Denmark; Rachel-Maria Brown Talaska, MD, director, inpatient cardiac providers, Lenox Hill Hospital, New York City; Deepak Bhatt, MD, MPH, government director, interventional cardiovascular applications, Brigham and Women’s Hospital Heart and Vascular Center, and professor, Harvard Medical School, Boston; presentation, European Society of Cardiology assembly, Copenhagen, Denmark, and on-line, April 4, 2022