Australia facing epidemic of heart rhythm disorder
3 Sept 2010
Australia has seen a 75% increase in hospital admissions for
atrial fibrillation over the last 10 years, according to researchers
from the University of Adelaide and the Cardiovascular Research Centre
at the Royal Adelaide Hospital.
Team leader Christopher Wong, who presented the findings at the
European Society of Cardiology’s Scientific Congress in Stockholm,
Sweden, said, “The increasing trend in hospital admissions due to
atrial fibrillation is particularly worrying for health care
authorities. Atrial fibrillation is the most common, sustained heart
rhythm disorder in humans, affecting almost one in 10 people over
the age of 80. Importantly, left untreated it can have devastating
consequences such as stroke and death — one in five strokes are due
to this heart rhythm disorder.”
The researchers looked at all hospitalisations due to atrial
fibrillation in Australia (population 22 million) over a 10-year
period from 1998 to 2008. The 75% increase in hospitalisations was
despite a decrease in the length of stay for each admission. “This
highlights the fact that not only have the absolute number of
admissions increased significantly, but also the percentage of the
population hospitalised for atrial fibrillation is continuing to
increase at an alarming rate,” Mr Wong says.
Professor Prashanthan Sanders, an expert on atrial fibrillation
and senior author of the study, says the results are a wake-up call
for doctors and healthcare authorities. “There are very few studies
that have looked at hospitalisation rates across an entire country
due to atrial fibrillation, and none in recent years. This study
highlights the enormous public health burden of atrial fibrillation
on hospitals and the need for not only better treatments for this
increasingly common condition, but also preventative strategies to
stop it occurring in the first place,” Professor Sanders says.