{"id":4396,"date":"2020-02-28T15:11:22","date_gmt":"2020-02-28T15:11:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.healthnews.ie\/?p=4396"},"modified":"2020-03-09T08:25:45","modified_gmt":"2020-03-09T08:25:45","slug":"atrial-fibrillation-affects-one-in-four-people-but-have-you-heard-of-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.healthnews.ie\/your-later-life\/atrial-fibrillation-affects-one-in-four-people-but-have-you-heard-of-it\/","title":{"rendered":"Atrial fibrillation affects one in four people \u2013 but have you heard of it?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div style=\"background-color:#f2f2f2;color:#32373c\" class=\"wp-block-atomic-blocks-ab-profile-box round ab-has-avatar ab-font-size-14 ab-block-profile ab-profile-columns\"><div class=\"ab-profile-column ab-profile-avatar-wrap\"><div class=\"ab-profile-image-wrap\"><figure class=\"ab-profile-image-square\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"250\" height=\"250\" class=\"ab-profile-avatar wp-image-4397\" src=\"https:\/\/s3.eu-north-1.amazonaws.com\/cdn-site.mediaplanet.com\/app\/uploads\/sites\/94\/2020\/02\/07211257\/p7-main-Helen-headshot.jpg\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/s3.eu-north-1.amazonaws.com\/cdn-site.mediaplanet.com\/app\/uploads\/sites\/94\/2020\/02\/07211257\/p7-main-Helen-headshot.jpg 250w, https:\/\/s3.eu-north-1.amazonaws.com\/cdn-site.mediaplanet.com\/app\/uploads\/sites\/94\/2020\/02\/07211257\/p7-main-Helen-headshot-125x125.jpg 125w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 250px) 100vw, 250px\" \/><\/figure><\/div><\/div><div class=\"ab-profile-column ab-profile-content-wrap\"><h2 class=\"ab-profile-name\" style=\"color:#32373c\">Helen Hobson <\/h2><p class=\"ab-profile-title\" style=\"color:#32373c\">Candidate Advanced Nurse Practitioner Stroke Service &amp; Atrial Fibrillation Clinic, Tallaght University Hospital<\/p><div class=\"ab-profile-text\"><\/div><ul class=\"ab-social-links\"><\/ul><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most commonly diagnosed disturbance of heart rhythm in adults. In AF, your heart beats in a disorganised, irregular and often rapid way which can lead to a range of symptoms and potential complications.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\" \/>\n\n\n\n<p>While Atrial fibrillation (AF) itself may not immediately be life-threatening, it can lead to a stroke or heart failure and so has potentially serious effects. AF is responsible for causing one third of strokes in Ireland each year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>One in four people will\ndevelop atrial fibrillation and it is estimated that over 33 million people\nglobally have AF. This figure is projected to increase significantly with our ageing\npopulation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>What does the public know\nabout AF?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Therefore, public education\nabout AF is vital, as detection and treatment reduces the risk of stroke. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, studies have shown\nthat public awareness and knowledge of AF are poor. In a recent Irish study, it\nwas found that overall awareness of AF in the population was low, with only 28%\nof those surveyed reporting they had heard of AF, and just over half of those correctly\nable to identify AF as an irregular heartbeat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Following a short national\nbillboard and radio campaign this marginally improved to 30% of people having\nheard of the condition, with only 35% able to describe it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Just 28% people before and\n22% after the national campaign knew AF was a risk factor for stroke. The\nnature of messaging and duration of such public awareness campaigns need\ngreater examination if they are to be effective.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Gaps in patient knowledge of AF<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Patient awareness of AF is also important to improve\ncompliance with treatment and understanding of the potential associated complications.\nInternational studies suggest that even among patients with AF attending a\nspecialist clinic, one third may not know they have the condition or understand\nwhat it means. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>At Tallaght University Hospital, professionals at the\nspecialist multidisciplinary AF clinic were disappointed that one in five patients were unaware\nof the term \u2018atrial fibrillation\u2019 although almost half had received\neducation on AF and were returning to the clinic for the second time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While 60% of all patients reported knowing what AF\nwas, most could only describe it in a low level of detail and half did not\nidentify AF as a risk factor for stroke. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>How can AF education be improved?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Up to now, successful stroke awareness campaigns have\ncentred mainly on recognition and response to common stroke symptoms. The\nconcept of AF and its risk of stroke can be a more difficult one to explain to\npatients, and education may need to be more tailored. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A simple, useful analogy is the \u2018faulty cement mixer\u2019:\nthe atrium fails to mix the blood correctly, causing \u2018lumps\u2019 (clots) to form in\nthe \u2018cement\u2019 (blood) which if flowing out of the mixer and into the pump\n(ventricle of the heart) will be pumped down the \u2018pipe-work\u2019 causing blockage\nin the blood vessels. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Videos of AF are widely available on YouTube and may\nalso be helpful, but their impact is unstudied and education may need to be\nmore individualised and focused using validated questionnaires to decipher what\nthe patient knows, before coming in for consultation, so specific gaps in\nknowledge can be addressed. Work is currently underway to produce a national\neducational tool to help patients understand AF.&nbsp; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most commonly diagnosed disturbance of heart rhythm in adults. In AF, your heart beats in a disorganised, irregular and often rapid way which can lead to a range of symptoms and potential complications. While Atrial fibrillation (AF) itself may not immediately be life-threatening, it can lead to a stroke or &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.healthnews.ie\/your-later-life\/atrial-fibrillation-affects-one-in-four-people-but-have-you-heard-of-it\/\">Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":4398,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4048],"tags":[4489],"class_list":["post-4396","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-your-later-life","tag-your-later-life-2020"],"acf":[],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/s3.eu-north-1.amazonaws.com\/cdn-site.mediaplanet.com\/app\/uploads\/sites\/94\/2020\/02\/07211257\/GettyImages-1080251260-600x400.jpg","featured_image_src_square":"https:\/\/s3.eu-north-1.amazonaws.com\/cdn-site.mediaplanet.com\/app\/uploads\/sites\/94\/2020\/02\/07211257\/GettyImages-1080251260-600x600.jpg","author_info":{"display_name":"Health Awareness","author_link":"https:\/\/www.healthnews.ie\/author\/jennyhyndman\/"},"vicky_index_order":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.healthnews.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4396","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.healthnews.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.healthnews.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthnews.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthnews.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4396"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthnews.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4396\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4411,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthnews.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4396\/revisions\/4411"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthnews.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4398"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.healthnews.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4396"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthnews.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4396"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthnews.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4396"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}