Q: Once I Lose Weight, Will AFib Go Away?

So, there is some really amazing information about lifestyle modification and how lifestyle changes can cause AFib, or contribute to it, and adjustment of your lifestyle can actually reduce the likelihood that you are going to have recurrent AFib. So, we know that we can improve the success rate of ablation even by someone adhering to a healthy lifestyle, such as weight loss, if they need to lose weight, diet even if they don’t need to lose weight, as long as they’re eating healthy and exercise.

So all those things that are a bit clichéd for a cardiologist to tell you..turns out we have a lot of really good evidence that they impact not only things like coronary artery disease, but also rhythm problems like atrial fibrillation. So losing weight can be really important.

We know that patients who are overweight are also more likely to have sleep apnea, and we know sleep apnea contributes significantly to atrial fibrillation. So for many reasons, I think, weight is something very important to consider, and sometimes if patients don’t want to do their part, it’s not clear that we can fix their atrial fibrillation.

A lot of times, it’s a bit of a pact that we make in the office, when we talk about “I’ll do my part and try my way of fixing atrial fibrillation,” but patients also do their part and do their best, if they can, to modify their lifestyle.