Atrial fibrillation is when the heart beats irregularly Gender plays an important part in determining the chances of survival for people with irregular heartbeats, researchers claim.
Atrial fibrillation is a heart rhythm disorder that makes the heart beat faster than normal.
It increases the risk of stroke and heart attack, although sufferers may initially experience the condition as palpitations. Dr Emilia Benjamin and her team looked at statistics from the US-based Framingham Heart Study, an ongoing project that has monitored 5,000 men and women in Massachusetts over the last 50 years. Risk of early death While both men and women are more at risk of early death if they suffer atrial fibrillation, the researchers found that women with the condition were almost twice as likely to die as women without it. Dr Benjamin's team found that atrial fibrillation increased the risk of death even when other conditions were taken into account Atrial fibrillation causes the upper chambers of the heart to beat rapidly and irregularly, sometimes at more than 300 beats per minute. Blood is not pumped efficiently to the lower chambers of the heart, and poor blood flow can cause blood clots to form if the condition persists.