Approximately 2.2 million Americans currently suffer from atrial fibrillation. The most common heart rhythm problem, atrial fibrillation is a condition in which the heart's two small upper chambers (the atria) quiver instead of beating effectively. Because blood isn't pumped completely out of them, it may pool and clot. Should the clot leaves the heart and become lodged in an artery in the brain, a stroke results. About 15 percent of strokes occur in people with atrial fibrillation. Now, researchers from Utah's Intermountain Medical Center have discovered that atrial fibrillation also puts sufferers at greater risk for developing Alzheimer's disease.

The Utah researchers examined five years of data on 37,025 adults 18 years and older who had been treated at various Intermountain healthcare hospitals. During the study period, approximately 10,000 had developed atrial fibrillation and 1,535 developed dementia. The researchers found that the heart rhythm condition increases the risk of developing all forms of dementia by 44 percent - but people under 70 were 130 percent more likely to develop Alzheimer's, says Dr. John Day of Intermountain Medical Center, who worked on the study. Moreover, the researchers discovered that those patients who had both atrial fibrillation and dementia were 61 percent more like to die during the five-year study period than patients who had dementia, but not atrial fibrillation.

Why does the most common heart rhythm problem raise the risk of Alzheimer's? Dr. Day believes that some patients "may have mini strokes without knowing it." And as he explains, strokes and heart disease have been shown to boost the risk of developing dementia. Says Dr. Day: "Given the strong association between atrial fibrillation and Alzheimer's, it certainly raises the question if we treat atrial fibrillation more aggressively or even cure it through a procedure, could we then prevent Alzheimer's from developing at a later date?" The findings were presented at the Heart Rhythm Society's 30th Annual Scientific held May 13-16 in Boston.

News Release: Atrial fibrillation, a common heart rhythm problem, raises the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease, especially in people under age 70, U.S. researchers said on Friday     www.canada.com   May 18 2009