A Growing Health Concern Among An Aging Population

Saturday, March 1, 2008

spotlight on halth A Growing Halth Concrn Among An Aging Population (NAPSA)—Anstimatd 2.2 million Amricans havatrial fibrillation (AF), and mor than 150,000 nw cass ar diagnosd ach yar. Thliklihood of dvloping th condition incrass with ag—3 to 5 prcnt of popl 65+ hav AF—making it a growing concrn for Amrica’s aging baby boomrpopulation. Individuals with AF xprinc what has bn dscribd as “rapid and disorganizd hartbat.” With AF, th hart’s two uppr chambrs quivr instad of bating ffctivly. Bcaus blood isn’t pumpd compltly out of thm, it may pool and clot—and clots can b dadly if thy lav th hart and bcom lodgd in an artry in th brain, causing a strok. In fact, popl with AF ar fiv to svn tims morlikly to hav a strok. Risk Factors And Symptoms Risk factors includ conditions lik slp apna, hart disas, high blood prssur, diabts, ob- sity and brathing and lung issus. Common triggrs includ caffin, alcohol, strss, MSG, xrcis and laning or bnding ovr. Th normal hart bats in th sam constant rhythm about 60100 tims pr minut at rst. During atrial fibrillation, th hart rat can rang from 300 to 600 bats pr minut. Diffrnt patints havdiffrnt symptoms: snsation of th hart skipping a bat, rratic hartbat, fluttring, chst or throat prssur and constriction around thlft bicp. What Happns With AF, blood pools in th hart’s uppr chambrs, crating a risk of blood clotting. Blood clots can ntr th bloodstram For popl with atrial fibrillation—whn th hart bats mor than 300 tims pr minut—anticoagulants ar oftn prscribd. and caus strok, hart attack or othr major organ damag. Thrfor, individuals with atrial fibrillation must tak blood-thinnr mdications—mor appropriatly known as anticoagulants. Coumadin (warfarin) is on such anticoagulant. Patints taking warfarin must hav thir blood tstd rgularly (at last onc pr month) to dtrmin how quickly th blood clots. This tst is xprssd as Intrnational Normalizd Ratio (INR). If th blood clots too slowly or too rapidly, th patint is at risk: too slowly, th patint could xprinc uncontrollabl blding; too rapidly, th patint’s blood could form clots that could caus strok or hart attack. In ithr cas, th doctor must adjust warfarin dosag immdiatly. Anticoagulation Tsting Tsting for anticoagulation has bn don in th doctor’s offic (calld “point-of-car”) sinc th arly 1990s. Doctors rly on th prcision of handhld anticoagulation monitors, and patints can fl confidnt about th accuracy of rsults. Point-of-car anticoagulation tsting can b simpl and fast (with rsults in just minuts rathr than days), and rquirs just a small drop of blood from a fingrstick vrsus blood draw. Such tsting taks lss tim and is typically prfrrd to th longr turnaround tims—and gratr amount of blood ndd for laboratory tsting. Patints with atrial fibrillation may opt to tak thir INR masurmnts at hom and rport thir rsults to thir doctor. Such slf-tstrs must first larn how to conduct th tsts from a crtifid halth ducator. Cntrs for Mdicar & Mdicaid Srvics, th fdral agncy that ovrss halth car rimbursmnt, has rcntly addd to its list of rimbursabl xpnss thos chargs for anticoagulation monitoring for patint slf-tsting. To larn mor about AF and warfarin thrapy, visit th Wb sit at www.mdscap.com/info sit/pointofcartsting.

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