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MONDAY, Aug 3, 2020 (HealthDay News)<\/p>\n
Physically fit patients with the irregular heartbeat atrial fibrillation<\/a> (AF) are most likely to benefit from ablation, a new study finds.<\/p>\n Patients who are less fit are hospitalized more often, continue to use anti-arrhythmic drugs<\/a> longer and have higher death rates, researchers say.<\/p>\n “AF does not occur in a vacuum but rather represents one manifestation of the impact of poor physical fitness<\/a> and related risk factors including hypertension<\/a>, obesity<\/a>, diabetes<\/a> and others,” said researcher Dr. Wael Jaber, a cardiologist at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio.<\/p>\n His team studied 591 patients who had cardiac ablation at Cleveland Clinic between 2012 and 2018.<\/p>\n In ablation, small areas of the heart<\/a> are scarred to help prevent movement of abnormal signals that cause an irregular heartbeat.<\/p>\n In the 32 months after treatment, 271 patients’ Afib<\/a> returned. Among those who were physically unfit, 79% had a recurrence, compared with 54% of those who were moderately fit and 28% of the fittest.<\/p>\n The study found that 56% of the fittest patients were able to stop taking drugs<\/a> to prevent arrhythmia<\/a>, compared with 11% of the least fit. About 19% of the fittest had to return to the hospital compared to 61% of the least fit, the study found.<\/p>\n Thirty patients died. Of those,11% were among the least fit; 4% were moderately fit and 3% were among the fittest. Conditions such as high blood pressure<\/a>, diabetes<\/a> and sleep apnea<\/a> were similar across all three groups, the study found.<\/p>\n “High physical fitness<\/a> can keep you in rhythm after AF ablation,” Jaber said. “Being fit is a great anti-arrhythmic. Our findings indicate that being physically fit acted almost like a medication in a dose-response fashion where there was a gradual and sustained success in ‘staying in rhythm.'”<\/p>\n The study was published online Aug. 3 in the journal Heart<\/a> Rhythm<\/i>.<\/p>\n — Steven Reinberg<\/p>\n ![\"MedicalNews\"](\"https:\/\/images.medicinenet.com\/images\/HealthDay\/healthday.png\")
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