AFib Risk Factors
The risk for AFib increases with age. High blood pressure, which also increases in risk with advancing age, accounts for 14% to 22% of AFib cases.2
Risk factors for AFib include2:
•Advancing age
•High blood pressure
•Obesity
•European ancestry
•Diabetes
•Heart failure
•Ischemic heart disease
•Hyperthyroidism
•Chronic kidney disease
•Heavy alcohol use
•Enlargement of the chambers on the left side of the heart
AFib increases a person’s risk for stroke by four to five times compared with stroke risk for people who do not have AFib. Strokes caused by complications from AFib tend to be more severe than strokes with other underlying causes. AFib causes 15%–20% of ischemic strokes, which occur when blood flow to the brain is blocked by a clot or by fatty deposits called plaque in the blood vessel lining.2