Keywords: Atrial fibrillation, cardiovascular disease, CT scan, emergency department, arrhythmia

“The link between vascular disease and atrial fibrillation”

This dissertation on atrial fibrillation examined the differences in specific substances in the blood and the calcification of the blood vessels in CT scans of healthy people both with and without atrial fibrillation. It also examined other cardiovascular diseases these individuals developed. The results found that abnormal blood values can be detected at an early stage in people with atrial fibrillation and that blood vessel calcification on CT scans is an early warning sign for the development of other cardiovascular diseases. Finally, the dissertation described the design of a large-scale study on people who went to the emergency department during an atrial fibrillation episode. Normally, medications or electric shocks are used to stop the arrhythmia episode, but most episodes pass on their own and do not require medical intervention.