Atrial fibrillation digital media kit 

EMBARGOED: 12:01AM AEST, TUESDAY, MAY 27, 2025

 

 

 

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Click on link below to download broadcast quality audio grabs

drive.google.com/drive/folders/1dE6QVNZS4z4ULBIr8Nya1Jna1OiB1aiN?usp=sharing

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Dr Tomos Walters

Cardiac Electrophysiologist, Queensland Cardiovascular Group, and St Andrew’s and St Vincent’s Hospitals, BRISBANE

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Grab A

Atrial fibrillation or AF is the most common, sustained, cardiac rhythm disturbance that we see in adult Australians. It's a fundamentally abnormal rhythm where the ventricles become irregular, the pulse becomes irregular. It's associated with a significant impact on symptom status and quality of life, and it's also associated with a significant increase in the risk of stroke and heart failure.

 

Grab B

Atrial fibrillation or AF is a disease in which the normal, regular rhythm is replaced by electrical chaos in the atria, the filling chambers at the top of the heart. That then makes the ventricles, the pumping chambers beat in an irregularly irregular manner, which significantly reduces the mechanical efficiency of the heart.

 

Grab C

It's related to getting older. It can be related to your genetics, and it's also related to other medical conditions which have the result of stretching and scouring those filling chambers, those atria. And that can include being overweight, having high blood pressure, having diabetes, having sleep apnoea. So these are all the risk factors that we have to think about when we're looking after somebody with atrial fibrillation.

 

Grab D

There are some people who just don't feel it. There are some people who are incapacitated by it, and most people are somewhere in between. The symptoms include palpitations, chest pain, breathlessness, dizziness, fatigue.

 

Grab E

At least 60% of patients living with AF are aware of it. They experience symptoms and perhaps 20 or 30% of those patients experience really quite severe symptoms. There is data showing that more than 20% of people have quite significant psychological distress to the point of thoughts of self-harm related to their AF.

 

Grab F

The things we worry about in a patient with AF include the risk of having a stroke. The risk that the AF, if left untreated, can start to affect their heart structure and function. It can cause heart failure in some patients. And of course, we worry about the symptoms and the effect on quality of life.

 

Grab G

AF imposes very large burden on the Australian healthcare system. It's one of the most common reasons for emergency department presentation, for hospital admission.
It's associated with conditions like stroke, which have a major cost.

 

Grab H

The management and treatment of AF aims to achieve improvement in symptoms and quality of life and reduction in the risk of major adverse outcomes such as stroke and heart failure.

 

Grab I

My message to Australians who are at risk of AF, is that we need to detect it. Because if we detect it, we can change things. We can reduce stroke risk, we can improve survival. So see your doctor. Be aware of how you're feeling, and don't be afraid to use new technologies such as smart devices.

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Dr Emily Kotschet

Cardiologist and Electrophysiologist, Holmesglen Private Hospital and Cabrini Hospital, MELBOURNE

Grab A

Atrial fibrillation is an irregular heartbeat that's recurrent and progressive and causing symptoms for patients. We often refer to it as AF.

 

Grab B

It can be just genetic in young people, but it can be related to older age, other illnesses, medication, heart disease. So, in each person we look for causes that we might be able to treat.

 

Grab C

About two per cent of the population of Australia have AF and live with that. That increases with age. So about 10 per cent of people in Australia have AF over 80.

 

Grab D

So atrial fibrillation typically causes palpitations as a symptom, so irregular thumping in the chest. Some patients feel it as shortness of breath or chest tightness or just feel a bit strange, dizzy, fatigue. But the symptoms are often unusual, particularly in women. They often present with different symptoms to what we might expect.

 

Grab E

So women often present with different symptoms, so maybe not classic irregular palpitations.
They might feel short of breath or just fatigue, unable to do their usual activities. In fact, some people have no symptoms with AF.

 

Grab F

So there's three main complications that come with AF, atrial fibrillation. There's a risk of stroke and that's particularly important if people have no apparent symptoms they may present with a stroke and then we realise they had AF. AF can contribute to heart failure, and also valvular heart disease and there's an increased risk of dementia and as well as death.

 

Grab G

Atrial fibrillation really does affect people's quality of life. It's a symptom that they have to live with. It's intermittent, and recurrent, and progressive, and that plays on people's minds, as well that it's going to get worse over time.

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Grab H

Treatment options for AF are mostly medication, which just reduce symptoms, but don't always eliminate them. More commonly is something like catheter ablation, which is targeting the heart and reducing episodes of AF in a more permanent fashion, and sometimes pacemakers in older patients.

 

Grab I

So one in three Australians didn't want to present when they had their first symptoms and waited for four episodes before they sought medical attention… often waiting to see if it'll just settle on its own, or maybe dismissing the significance of it. We need to show that message – it’s progressive and it has a risk of stroke and heart failure in the longer term. To address it early is very beneficial.

 

Grab J

If we can pick up AF, and start some blood thinners, you can prevent the majority of stroke.

 

Grab K

My message for Australians who are at risk of AF, or living with AF is to pick it up early, present to your doctor for an assessment, start your lifestyle therapy, and consider ablation or early assessment by an electrophysiologist or specialist in AF to manage it.

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Tanya Hall

Founder and CEO, hearts4heart, PERTH

 

Grab A

Atrial fibrillation, also known as AF, is the most common arrhythmia, where the top chambers of your heart, the atria, beat faster and erratically. In AF, your heart may not pump blood around the body as well as it should. And that can lead to serious complications, such as stroke or heart failure.

 

Grab B

Symptoms of atrial fibrillation include chest pain, palpitations, fatigue, dizziness and swollen ankles or feet.

 

Grab C

Not everybody with atrial fibrillation have symptoms. And unfortunately for many people, it's not until they present in the hospital with a stroke, that atrial fibrillation is detected.

 

Grab D

So those most at risk of developing atrial fibrillation are the elderly. There are some heart conditions that can also lead to atrial fibrillation, obesity, sleep apnoea, hypertension, diabetes, but also lifestyle factors such as excessive drinking, smoking, and those that are overweight.

 

Grab E

So people living with atrial fibrillation are five times more likely to have a stroke, and yet they're still very little awareness about atrial fibrillation and the link between atrial fibrillation and stroke.

 

Grab F

So many Australians are delaying treatment because they don't always have symptoms, and therefore, they're not aware that they have atrial fibrillation. So it's really important that people are going to their GP and having their heart checked. But it's also really important that we're conscious of our heart health.

 

Grab G

So I was diagnosed with congenital heart disease at six months old. And I had my first heart operation at nine. But when I was 17, I started having symptoms of atrial fibrillation. And after atrial fibrillation progressing over 10 years. I was then diagnosed, and had treatment to improve my symptoms, and quality of life.

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Grab H

So living with fibrillation significantly impacted my quality of life. Particularly during the times when I was really unwell, I was either in hospital, or had hospital in the home. And so that really affected my ability to work, to socialise, and of course, it affected my mental health.

 

Grab I

I’m living really well with atrial fibrillation. The most important thing is that you're diagnosed and treated like I am, and you can live a fulfilled life.

 

Grab J

There are medications, such as beta blockers and antiarrhythmic drugs that control the rate and the rhythm of the heart. There's also medication called anticoagulants, that prevent the risk of stroke. There are non-invasive procedures, such as, cardioversion and catheter ablation. And there's also surgical procedures that are available. But we too have a role to play in the management of our health. And that is to limit our alcohol intake, smoking cessation, and eating a healthy diet and exercise.

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Grab K

There's still very little awareness about the various heart conditions that exist and the role that we play in terms of being conscious of our heart health, but also improving our heart health.

 

Grab L

My message to Australians over the age of 50 is to be heart smart. If there’s a family history of heart disease, if you’re having any symptoms, or you’re over the age of 50, then please go and get your heart checked.

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Justine Martin, 54

Mum-of-two, grandmother-to-eight, publisher, author, artist, coach and consultant who lived with atrial fibrillation, GEELONG

 

Grab A

I was diagnosed with atrial fibrillation in 2013, and I was 42 years old.

 

Grab B

I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2011, and I developed this butterfly feeling in my chest, which I put down to being MS. I got rushed to hospital with a really bad headache, and they put me on an ECG machine and discovered that my resting heart rate was 155 beats a minute, which then led to the diagnosis of AF.

 

Grab C

So my second episode of AF I was rushed to hospital with a resting heart rate of 217 beats a minute, and it was very, very scary. I'd lost the feeling in my right arm, and my hearing had gone, and the world was closing in. And it took them four hours to get me back down to 165 beats a minute.

 

Grab D

Tiredness. My heart was causing a flutter in my chest. I would become very dizzy when I laid down and got back up again.

 

I lost the feeling of my right arm and my hearing was affected with the higher heartbeats. My tiredness escalated from it, and my quality of life suffered.

 

Grab E

Prior to being diagnosed, I had no idea that AF was the leading cause of stroke. I thought it was an old person's disease.

 

Grab F

My attitude to heart health is top of the list above everything else because if your heart is not working properly, then it doesn't matter if your legs are, you've got to have a healthy heart.

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