Study Reveals that Preventing Heart Enlargement in High Blood Pressure Patients Lowers Risk of Atrial Fibrillation

by: AFAnswers.com staff

A study performed at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York found that preventing a common condition where the heart is enlarged among high blood pressure patients reduces the risk of Atrial Fibrillation. 8 The potentially dangerous condition of an enlarged heart is called Left Ventricular Hypertrophy, or LVH, and occurs when the tissue around the heart’s key pumping chamber becomes enlarged. This condition is largely caused by chronic high blood pressure and some researchers believe it can predict the possible development of AF.

Currently, LVH is monitored with an electrocardiogram (ECG), a diagnostic test that examines the electrical activity of the heart. In the study, more than 8,000 patients with hypertension, without a history of AF were monitored via an ECG. Patients who received treatment to reduce their blood pressure were less likely to develop AF — even four years after the start of the study — leading researchers to believe that blood-pressure therapy may reduce the risk of developing AF. Additional study findings suggest that the risk of AF was reduced regardless of the type of therapy that was administered.

An estimated 20 percent of hypertension patients, or 12 million Americans, have been diagnosed with LVH and have an increased risk of developing AF. For these patients, avoiding or reversing the LVH by means of blood pressure therapy may reduce their risk of developing the condition, as well as reduce the risk of AF’s common followers, such as stroke and heart failure.

Published: January 1, 2007