Long term survival of having a pacemaker?

[academic.oup.com]

It’s an old article so I hope life expectancy numbers have gone up. It says if one has afib the numbers are lower.

Newer studies (still old) say 61% after 7 years however if one has no heart disease than one’s age mirrors the general population. Which doesn’t make sense because the first link mentioned afib will lower the numbers.
[www.escardio.org]



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/24/2021 11:44PM by susan.d.

Susan:

I had my pacemaker installed in 1997, the battery lasted until around 2012 and had a new pacer put in. So all totaled, I have had a pacemaker for 23 years and i have had AF during all those years, I had paraoximal AF until about a year ago when I became permanent AF.

I am still going strong, so quit worrying.

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susan.d
however if one has no heart disease than one’s age mirrors the general population. Which doesn’t make sense because the first link mentioned afib will lower the numbers.

I interpret the statement that your life expectancy is a function of your underlying health conditions. I don't think having a pacer is causative for death. In fact, if you have a condition requiring a pacer and you don't get one, it likely extends life.

My father had a pacemaker. His death was caused by a fall and unrelated to any heart or health issues. When he turned 70, I began to reiterate the caution needed to 'not fall'. Bones are fragile, recovery takes a long time and lots of muscle is lost which in turn leads to more falls. # 1 tip IMHO is DON'T FALL. Pop lived 16 years with a pacemaker and his only frustration was it limited his heart rate when riding a bicycle.

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NotLyingAboutMyAfib
When he turned 70, I began to reiterate the caution needed to 'not fall'. Bones are fragile, recovery takes a long time and lots of muscle is lost which in turn leads to more falls. # 1 tip IMHO is DON'T FALL.

Great advice! Hard to follow for a 65 year old with the frontal lobe of an 18 year old male. Learning how to fall in years of judo class and also playing American football as a youth help. I also do balance training on a slackline most days (in addition to training strength, power, agility & speed) . Many of the activities I do have fall risk: skiing, rock climbing, unicycling, slacklining, squats on a swiss ball and so on. I can and do fall in them, my worst recent injury was a torn shoulder labrum wiping out skiing at 40 MPH (I now hang from a bar daily for 90 seconds to keep the shoulder happy). Also a whipper rock climbing where I ripped a lot of skin off my palms.