Dr Day - you lost me when you quoted the oft mentioned quote that 'people with AF are five times more likely to have a stroke'. As someone who suffers from Paroxysmal AF and also someone who doesn't like to take things on faith I found myself wondering where this figure came from, as it seemed awfully broad to me. It took a while but I finally tracked it down. It was, of course, from a study done in the 1960s (the Wolfe study) as part of the huge Framingham studies. And guess what - people with PAF were EXCLUDED from that study. Also that study (presumably) included a lot of very elderly, sick patients as there was very little attempt to 'filter' who was included.
As a 66 year old woman who is not overweight, does not have hypertension or diabetes or heart disease, and who is quite physically fit, I am heartily sick of having that figure (of 5 x more likely...) quoted at me.
Dr Day - you lost me when you quoted the oft mentioned quote that 'people with AF are five times more likely to have a stroke'. As someone who suffers from Paroxysmal AF and also someone who doesn't like to take things on faith I found myself wondering where this figure came from, as it seemed awfully broad to me. It took a while but I finally tracked it down. It was, of course, from a study done in the 1960s (the Wolfe study) as part of the huge Framingham studies. And guess what - people with PAF were EXCLUDED from that study. Also that study (presumably) included a lot of very elderly, sick patients as there was very little attempt to 'filter' who was included.
As a 66 year old woman who is not overweight, does not have hypertension or diabetes or heart disease, and who is quite physically fit, I am heartily sick of having that figure (of 5 x more likely...) quoted at me.
Just saying....