Short-circuiting hearts on the rise thanks to our greying population

IN 1900 the life expectancy for a man was only 47, and now it’s 79.

Generally, then, the population is a bit greyer than it used to be.

Modern medicine has to cope with this changing demographic, but it’s not always easy.

Take the treatment for something called atrial fibrillation. This is a condition which affects only one in 200 people in their 50s, yet can occur in one in 10 in those in their 80s.

Sometimes brought on by underlying conditions such as high blood pressure, in atrial fibrillation the electrical signals in the heart get a bit mixed up.

Although some patients don’t have any symptoms, this short-circuit in the heart’s pacemaker often makes the heart pump a bit quicker.

It may go up to 180 beats per minute – ideally it’s 60-100 in a healthy adult.

The symptoms may include dizziness, palpitations, angina-like chest pain, and breathlessness.

Diagnosis is straightforward – an electro cardiogram can measure the electrical signals coming from the heart.

The main complication with this condition though is it raises the risk of having a stroke.

The erratic blood flow in the heart chambers can result in a blood clot forming, which can travel to the brain.

Most folk with atrial fibrillation are therefore put on anti-coagulants such as Warfarin.

It means we’ve got a significant portion of the older population on anti-coagulants, which are good at reducing stroke risk, but have a small risk of bleeding complications.

And when elderly people tend to get frailer and more likely to fall, well, you can see why it’s a bit of a headache for the NHS.