Among adults ≥65 years without diagnosed cardiac disease, 43% reported cardiac-related symptoms linked to significantly lower quality of life and multiple associated risk factors.
A large proportion of older adults at risk for stroke but without known cardiac disease experience cardiac-related symptoms that significantly impair their quality of life, highlighting a potential unmet need for cardiovascular screening and management.
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Abstract Aims Population-based data on cardiac-related symptoms in individuals without diagnosed cardiac disease remain limited, despite important implications for early detection and management. We aimed to assess the prevalence of self-reported symptoms and the association with quality of life (QoL) among adults ≥65 years with ≥1 additional stroke risk factor, but without diagnosed cardiac disease. Methods Cross-sectional study of the NORSCREEN trial population at baseline. NORSCREEN is an ongoing, nationwide, randomised atrial fibrillation screening study in adults aged ≥65 years at increased risk of stroke (CHA2DS2-VA ≥2). All participants completed a baseline questionnaire capturing clinical information, symptoms, and QoL. Results Of 50,549 participants enrolled from 2023 to 2025, 39,281 (78%) reported no diagnosed cardiac disease. Among those, 17,069 (43%) reported cardiac-related symptoms compared to 7,551 (67%) of 11,268 individuals with known cardiac disease. Most common symptoms were fatigue, exertional dyspnoea and tachycardia. Female sex (adjusted odds ratio 1.66, 95% CI 1.58–1.75, physical inactivity (1.43 1.32–1.55), current smoking (1.24 1.12–1.37), age 75 years (1.14 1.08-1.20), living alone (1.13 1.07–1.20), and comorbidities including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (6.51 5.63-7.54) and anxiety (3.99 3.64-4.38) were associated with cardiac-related symptoms. Symptomatic individuals reported significantly lower RAND-36 QoL scores across all domains compared to those without symptoms. Conclusion In this cohort of individuals ≥65 years at increased risk of stroke, but without diagnosed cardiac disease, nearly half reported cardiac-related symptoms, which were associated with substantially reduced QoL. These findings suggest there might be unmet needs in identifying and managing cardiovascular disease.
Jortveit et al. (Thu,) reported a other. Among adults ≥65 years without diagnosed cardiac disease, 43% reported cardiac-related symptoms linked to significantly lower quality of life and multiple associated risk factors.