Researchers have recently revealed that patients suffering from the world's most common heart rhythm disorder who can manage their lifestyle factors are five times more likely to have long-term survival.
According to University of Adelaide researchers the atrial fibrillation (AF) was increasingly responsible for dementia, stroke and death, and has a significant impact on healthcare costs.
With electrical "short circuits" believed to be responsible for the abnormal beating of the heart in AF patients, one currently used treatment was to burn the tissue surrounding the problem area, in a process known as "catheter ablation."
Dr Rajeev Pathak, a Cardiologist , said that after a period of five years, arrhythmia-free survival rates for patients who undertook the risk management program were 87 percent, compared with less than 18 percent of the control group.
This study should serve as a wake up call to physicians to begin prevention programs to reduce disease states rather than focus on their treatment only, and the good news was: it's never too late to start, he further added.
The study is published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.