FRIDAY, June 29, 2018 (HealthDay News) — For obese patients offered weight and risk factor management (RFM), weight loss is associated with reversal of the type and progression of atrial fibrillation (AF), according to a study published online June 14 in Europace.
Melissa E. Middledorp, from the University of Adelaide in Australia, and colleagues examined the impact of weight and RFM on AF progression in 355 AF patients with a body mass index ≥27 kg/m². Weight loss was classified as <3 percent (Group 1), 3 to 9 percent (Group 2), and ≥10 percent (Group 3).
The researchers found that 41 and 26 percent of patients in Group 1 progressed from paroxysmal to persistent AF and from persistent to paroxysmal or no AF, respectively. In Group 2, 32 and 49 percent progressed from paroxysmal to persistent and reversed from persistent to paroxysmal or no AF, respectively. Three and 88 percent of those in Group 3 progressed to persistent and reversed to paroxysmal or no AF, respectively. There was a correlation for increased weight loss with greater AF freedom: 39, 67, and 86 percent in Groups 1, 2, and 3, respectively.
“This study demonstrates the dynamic relationship between weight/risk factors and AF,” the authors write. “Weight-loss management and RFM reverses the type and natural progression of AF.”
Several authors disclosed ties to the pharmaceutical and medical device industries.
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