An older adult who was diagnosed with atrial fibrillation asks a nurse, "I feel fine. I have no symptoms at all with this heart problem, yet I am now on a blood thinner medication, which I understand can by very dangerous
Is this really necessary?" The nurse formulates a response based on the understanding that:
a. Atrial fibrillation, while initially asympto-matic, will progress and become sympto-matic.
b. the risk of stroke is very high for a person with atrial fibrillation.
c. untreated atrial fibrillation will likely cause a heart attack.
d. atrial fibrillation can cause coronary heart disease.
ANS: B
The most serious complication of atrial fibrillation is stroke. Symptoms of atrial fibrillation, if they occur, are usually vague and do not worsen. While untreated atrial fibrillation can cause tachycardia as a compensatory mechanism, which can lead to myocardial ischemia, a heart attack from atrial fibrillation is not a common occurrence. Coronary heart disease can cause atrial fibril-lation, not the reverse.
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