People who survive a stroke while living with atrial fibrillation face a high risk of a second one. A study published in the journal Neurology on October 21 found that patients whose normal heart rhythm was restored within eight weeks of their stroke were less likely to be hospitalized again for a stroke or a blood clot elsewhere in the body over five years.
Researchers at Kyoto University reviewed records for 14,355 people in Japan, average age 83, who had both an ischemic stroke and AFib. Over five years, 8% of those who received early rhythm control were rehospitalized for another stroke or a clot, compared with 14% of those who did not. After adjusting for other illnesses, frailty and stroke severity, early rhythm control was associated with a 44% lower risk.
