Blowing the whistle on atrial
fibrillation
How we could make a difference
Ian Chalmers is a 64 year old
from Dundee. He was fit. He had to be, refereeing up to four games
of football a week. It never occurred to him that he might be in a
high-risk group when it comes to having a stroke. That’s because
he’d never heard of atrial fibrillation
until he was diagnosed by chance.
Atrial fibrillation (AF) is an irregular abnormal heart rhythm
which mostly affects people over the age of 55, and can increase
the risk of a stroke by up to five times. The symptoms can be very
mild or even non-existent, but simply checking your pulse can help
to identify the problem.
How we did it
We launched an awareness campaign in November. The campaign told
people ‘Don’t leave it to chance,’ and urged them to visit our
website or call our information line to find out how to check their
pulse.
How we’ll progress
Like many thousands of
others Ian now takes medication to reduce his risk of a stroke. We
aim to identify and help as many people like him as we can. Over 50
BHF Arrhythmia Specialist Nurses are
contributing greatly to the diagnosis of atrial fibrillation.