Atrial fibrillation and pulse pressure

[london2000]

Hello, I'm new here!

I have occasional episodes of atrial fibrillation and invariably an episode is accompanied by a drop in systolic blood pressure, while the diastolic pressure remains much the same. This ties in with the symptoms I experience of slight breathlessness and temporary lightheadedness on standing from a sitting or lying position.

The difference between the systolic and diastolic pressures is referred to as the pulse pressure, and my pulse pressure drops to less than 30 mmHg when I am in AFib, whereas when I'm not in AFib it's around 35-45 mmHg. The decrease is very marked when plotted on a graph.

I'm interested to know whether other people with AFib experience a low pulse pressure because searches I've done don't refer to any correlation between low pulse pressure and AFib episodes. Furthermore, the medics I've spoken to have not shown any curiosity in this observation.

Is my Afib different to what others experience?

Thanks, Roger

[london2000]

Thanks for your response. I agree with what you're saying but I'm curious as to why this correlation between atrial fibrillation and low pulse pressure seemingly isn't discussed in the literature, making me wonder whether the symptoms from my AFib are different to normal.

Also, post-diagnosis I'm now on 2.5 mg bisoprolol daily and I ask myself whether the hypotensive effects of this drug could be exacerbating the breathlessness and lightheadedness that I experience during an AFib episode.

On the other hand, perhaps blood pressures measured during an AFib episode are not true values but are distorted in some way by the atrial fibrillation. (In a similar way, during AFib heart rate measured by ECG seems to be higher than pulse rate presumably because some of the beats of the heart are not converted into blood flow.)

[london2000]

That's interesting. As I understand it, chest bands pick up electrical signals from the heart so this ties in with the higher readings that I see on my one-lead Kardia device when I have an AFib episode.

When I'm in sinus rhythm, the readings I get from the Kardia, from a blood pressure monitor and from Fibricheck (which uses PPG on my phone) are very similar, whereas when I have an AFib episode the Kardia can give a much higher reading compared with the blood pressure monitor and Fibricheck. Nonetheless, all three methods invariably draw the same conclusion that I'm in AFib by looking at variability in rhythm.