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You may or may not notice atrial fibrillation. It often occurs with no signs or symptoms. If you do have symptoms, you may notice something that occurs only occasionally. Or, your symptoms may be frequent or serious.

Typically doctors screen for atrial fibrillation only when you have symptoms. However, your doctor may check for signs of atrial fibrillation as part of your regular medical care. Screening tests include checking your pulse or recording your heart’s electrical activity.

Age, family history and genetics, lifestyle, heart disease or other medical conditions, race, sex, and a history of surgery can all raise your risk of developing the structural and electrical anomalies that cause atrial fibrillation. Even in a healthy heart, a fast or slow heart rate—from exercising or sleeping, for example—can trigger atrial fibrillation.

Changes to the heart’s tissue and to its electrical signals most often cause atrial fibrillation. When the heart’s tissue or signaling is damaged, the regular pumping of the heart muscle becomes fast and irregular.

Atrial fibrillation is a type of arrhythmia. There are four main types of atrial fibrillation—paroxysmal, persistent, long-term persistent, and permanent atrial fibrillation.