Atrial fibrillation: Shifting strategies for early treatment?

For people recently diagnosed with atrial fibrillation, starting with treatments aimed at controlling the heart’s rhythm may be better than the usual approach of starting with rate-controlling medications. Rhythm-control strategies, which include medications or a minimally invasive approach known as catheter ablation, may lead to fewer hospitalizations, strokes, and heart attacks than the rate control strategy. Usual care most often starts with rate-controlling drugs and switches to rhythm control only when a person has persistent symptoms, which can include dizziness, breathlessness, and fatigue.