Atrial Fibrillation During COVID-19
September marks the annual National Atrial Fibrillation (afib) Awareness Month. This is a critical time to raise awareness about a life-altering condition that affects millions of Americans. Each day, we learn more about COVID-19’s impact on the heart. Understanding afib is vital now more than ever.
At the time of this blog post, BioSig Technologies and ViralClear Pharmaceuticals stand at the intersection of COVID-19 and atrial fibrillation. We consider it our duty to help educate and bring awareness to any commonalities between the two maladies.
Firstly, the risk of severe illness from COVID-19 and developing atrial fibrillation increases with age (COVID-19 source, afib source). Therefore, we advise older members of the community to remain vigilant about avoiding exposure to the virus and being proactive when it comes to heart health.
For those who currently have atrial fibrillation, several recent studies have documented additional risk faced by afib patients exposed to COVID-19 due to cardiac-related immune system abnormalities (source). To avoid exposure to the virus, many afib patients have delayed cardiac ablation procedures. In fact, afib hospitalization rates have dropped dramatically since the World Health Organization recognized the pandemic in March of this year (source). Unlike other elective procedures, delaying the treatment of atrial fibrillation can have lasting, adverse health effects (source).
As afib patients struggle with the difficult choice between seeking treatment at a hospital and living with symptoms, it is incumbent on the healthcare community to prioritize the safe and effective treatment of these patients.
Every year our team observes National Atrial Fibrillation Awareness Month and remains dedicated to helping patients, physicians, and other healthcare community members with innovative solutions to address atrial fibrillation during COVID-19 and beyond.
Kind Regards,
Ken Londoner
Chairman and CEO
BioSig Technologies, Inc.
Additional Sources:
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23702238/
https://www.stopafib.org/newsitem.cfm/NEWSID/671/atrial%20fibrillation/afib
https://www.heartrhythmjournal.com/article/S1547-5271(20)30594-4/fulltext
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