Coeliac Disease And Atrial Fibrillation

AnonW

Sep 28

I am coeliac and I had or have atrial fibrillation. Cardiologists tell me that, the atrial fibrillation led to my stroke in 2011.

I should also say, that my father was an undiagnosed coeliac and he died from a stroke younger than I am now.

I typed the title of this post into Doctor Google.

I found this paper on Cureus, which is entitled Celiac Disease and Risk of Atrial Fibrillation: A Meta-analysis and Systematic Review.

I will print two paragraphs from the Abstract,

This was the Introduction.

Several studies have found celiac disease may be associated with a variety of cardiac manifestations. Atrial fibrillation (AF) is one of the most common arrhythmias that can cause significant morbidity. However, the risk of atrial fibrillation in patients with celiac disease according to epidemiological studies remains unclear. The aim of this meta-analysis study is to assess the risk of atrial fibrillation in patients diagnosed with celiac disease compared to controls.

And this was the Conclusion in the Abstract.

A significant association between celiac disease and risk of atrial fibrillation was reported in this study. There is a 38% increased risk of atrial fibrillation. Additional studies are needed to clarify the mechanistic link between atrial fibrillation and celiac disease. Some of the limitations of this study are that all were observational studies, some were medical registry-based and there was high heterogeneity between studies.

I know that I have a supercharged immune system, in that it seems to protect me from flu and the dreaded covids and it gave the AstraZeneca vaccine a good kicking. Research from Nottingham University has also shown, that coeliacs on a gluten-free diet have a 25 % lower risk of cancer compared to the general population.

So I asked Doctor Google if there was any link between the immune system and atrial fibrillation.

I found this paper on PubMed, which is entitled The Role Of Immune Cells In Atrial Fibrillation.

This was the Abstract.

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common sustained arrhythmia, but its mechanisms are poorly understood. Recently, accumulating evidence indicates a link between immune response and AF, but the precise mechanism remains unclear. It should be noticed that the relationship between immune response and AF is complex. Whether immune response is a cause or a result of AF is unclear. As the functional unit of the immune system, immune cells may play a vital role in the immunological pathogenesis of AF. In this review, we briefly highlight the evidence on relationships between immune cells and AF, and discuss their potential roles in AF pathogenesis. We hope this review could provide new orientation and enlightenment for further research on AF mechanism.

One of the paper's conclusions is more research needs to be done.

Conclusion

I feel a lot of research concerning coeliacs and atrial fibrillation could lead to a better understanding of atrial fibrillation.

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