Irregular Heartbeat May Have Wide-Ranging Effects in the Body

The effects of an irregular heartbeat can ripple across the entire body, a new meta-analysis finds. The particular type of irregular heartbeat that researchers looked at, called atrial fibrillation, is a well-known cause of strokes, but the condition also increases a person's risk for complications such as heart failure, kidney disease and dying of heart disease, according to the meta-analysis. In the study, published Sept. 6 in the journal The BMJ, researchers analyzed 104 studies that included