Arrhythmia

Reducing target blood pressure does not decrease the incidence of recurrent arrhythmia among patients undergoing catheter ablation for atrial fibrillation, results of a randomized trial suggest.

A Danish nationwide cohort study published in The BMJ examines the effectiveness and safety profiles of novel oral anticoagulants among patients with atrial fibrillation.

The oral thrombin inhibitor dabigatran may actually increase thrombus formation, suggest the results of a translational study conducted in human arterial plaque and mouse models of blood clotting.

Use of rivaroxaban moderates the bleeding risk associated with oral anticoagulation plus antiplatelet treatment after percutaneous coronary intervention in patients with atrial fibrillation, indicate results of the phase III PIONEER AF-PCI trial.

Atrial fibrillation is associated with an increased risk of a wide range of adverse outcomes including death and cardiovascular and renal disease, results of a systematic review and meta-analysis involving more than 9 million individuals show.

Edoxaban appears to be an effective alternative to warfarin and enoxaparin bridging for cardioversion of patients with non-valvular atrial fibrillation, findings from a phase IIIb trial show.

Women are more likely than men to have recurrent ventricular tachycardia following ablation, despite having more favourable baseline characteristics, research shows.

Researchers have developed and validated a risk model for predicting sudden cardiac death in adults without a history of cardiovascular disease.

A history of atrial fibrillation is associated with an increased risk of in-hospital bleeding, heart failure, cardiogenic shock and mortality among patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention, US study data show.

Cardiovascular risk factors can be present in patients with atrial fibrillation more than 15 years before an AF diagnosis, with each having its own trajectory, US researchers report.

Rates of stroke, heart failure and death vary significantly by global region in patients presenting to emergency departments with atrial fibrillation, study findings indicate.

The clinical presentation of the inherited cardiac arrhythmic disorder Brugada syndrome has become milder in the past 30 years, study findings indicate.

Only one-third of patients who achieve a stable international normalised ratio during 6 months of warfarin therapy will maintain that stability during the subsequent year’s treatment, US researchers report.

The risk–benefit balance of parenteral anticoagulation may not be favourable in patients with atrial fibrillation who are hospitalised with sepsis, a study suggests.

The benefits of apixaban 5 mg over warfarin are maintained in patients with atrial fibrillation who are of advanced age, have low body weight or elevated creatinine levels, analysis of ARISTOTLE data shows.

Reintervention and rehospitalisation rates are significantly lower with cryoballoon ablation than with radiofrequency current catheter ablation in patients with symptomatic paroxysmal atrial fibrillation, FIRE AND ICE study data show.

Very elderly patients given a vitamin K antagonist in clinical practice have a mildly elevated risk of bleeding but a sharply increased risk of thrombosis, say researchers.

Death is a bigger risk than stroke among patients with atrial fibrillation, particularly during the first 4 months after diagnosis, research shows.

Lisinopril therapy significantly reduces incident conduction system disease, indicates a post-hoc analysis of ALLHAT data.

Black individuals with atrial fibrillation have markedly higher rates of stroke, heart failure, coronary heart disease and mortality than their White counterparts, data from the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities study show.