Predicting Atrial Fibrillation in Patients with Hypertension: Can We Do It?

摘要

Hypertension is a silent disorder, which is usually asymptomatic. However, long-standing hypertension increases the risk of developing cardiovascular complications, such as stroke, renal failure, peripheral atherosclerosis, coronary artery disease, and heart failure [1]. Systolic blood pressure is a stronger predictor of cardiovascular complications than diastolic pressure [2], and systolic hypertension in isolation has an especially high complication rate [3], The reduction of morbidity and mortality by prevention of these potentially serious cardiovascular complications is the primary aim of treatment for hypertension [1]. One complication that is not often mentioned in hypertension research is atrial fibrillation (AF). The development of AF in a hypertensive patient may have serious impacts on symptoms and prognosis, since it has been demonstrated that AF independently increases morbidity and mortality rates [4-6], and worsens the quality of life. On the other hand, in many AF patients, hypertensionis the main cause of the arrhythmia.Since the treatment of AF has its limitations, prevention of AF in a population at risk is preferred. For this purpose, the hypertensive patient at increased risk for the development of AF should be identified. In this way, preventive measures such as regular EGG monitoring and the initiation of antithrombotic therapy or rate-control medication could be advised in a selected group of patients, as indicated. Furthermore, in a group with a known increased risk for AF primary prevention studies on the development of AF could be performed.