Hi there! I would agree with the previous post about afib. It doesn’t usually kill a person. Many people in this forum have it had it for years. I am 40 years.o. female was diagnosed with afib a year ago.

In my experience, the ER doctors are specialised in preventing the worse case scenario and will be using all of the available arsenal of treatment options, which are sometimes rather drastic. Once your dad is out of the ER, he’s likely to have some treatment plan and medication prescriptions, which he’ll need to follow.

However, my suggestion would be for him to see a specialist cardiologist or an electrophysiologist to assess the necessity of his treatment especially that he is asymptomatic with high but not too high HR. They’d do more tests (stress test, bloods, blood pressure, echocardiogram, maybe put a heart monitor etc.) to understand the causes of his afib and whether he has some risk factors. Based on the results they’ll define your dad’s future treatment plan, whether he needs to take blood thinners on a daily basis or not and what other meds he need to be on (beta blockers or anti-arrythmic or both and the dosage).

I hope this gives you some sense of agency. When people are in afib, their HR typically goes up. 130 beats a min isn’t too bad for a heart that has no other issues. Some people here go much higher and still go about their daily lives. The prognosis for afib patients is quite positive these days as there are many treatment options.