This says Joan Meeder, chairman of the Dutch Association for Cardiology (NVVC) against RTL Nieuws. The heart films help to detect atrial fibrillation earlier. People with this heart rhythm disorder are five times more likely to have a stroke. “If you screen for atrial fibrillation earlier, you can prescribe blood thinners. People are then less likely to have a stroke,” says Meeder.
Atrial fibrillation is a heart rhythm disorder that mainly occurs in the elderly. More than half of the patients with this cardiac arrhythmia are 75 years or older. In the Netherlands, there are 373,700 people who have been diagnosed with atrial fibrillation. It is estimated that there are 80,000 people with atrial fibrillation who have not yet been diagnosed.
The heartbeat of patients with this condition becomes irregular with a high frequency. The condition increases the risk of blood clots that can travel into a blood vessel in the brain, leading to a stroke.
Over-60s
It is unrealistic to make such a video for everyone, Meeder also acknowledges. “But if you do it with people who already come for a checkup, you will already catch a lot of them.”
It mainly concerns people over 60. According to Meeder, the choice for this target group has an important reason: they are hit harder by a stroke. “If you have a stroke at an older age, it is much more severe than it would normally be at any other age.”
Jong
A stroke does not only affect people over the age of 60. Younger people can get them too. Sylvia Elzinga (56) has had it at the age of 39. Years later, she was accidentally discovered to have atrial fibrillation. Sylvia still feels the effects of the stroke in her left arm. “My fine motor skills in that arm are not 100 percent. I can write, but it’s difficult.”
Sometimes even a stroke is thought too late in young people. This is because they do not fit the stroke picture. This was the case with Jochem, he talks about it in the video below:
