Brief Answer:
Strongly correlated

Detailed Answer:
Thank you for asking!
Atrial fibrillation (AF) has strong associations with other cardiovascular diseases, such as heart failure, coronary artery disease (CAD), Ischemic Heart Disease IHD,valvular heart disease, diabetes mellitus, and hypertension. It is characterized by an irregular and often rapid heartbeat. The exact mechanisms by which cardiovascular risk factors predispose to AF are not understood fully but are under intense investigation. Catecholamine excess, hemodynamic stress, atrial ischemia, atrial inflammation, metabolic stress, and neurohumoral cascade activation are all purported to promote AF.
Plus also the odds of IHD are almost double in people with COPD compared to people without COPD. So nutshell, COPD and AFib both are correlated strongly with Ischemic heart disease and needs to be managed under strict observation by a cardiologist in a secure cardiac facility.
DIscuss different options like catheter ablation, RFA (Radio Frequency Ablation, Pace makers permanent, Atrial compartmentalization, AV nodal Ablations etc with your husband's cardiologist and let them decide what is best for you.
I hope it helps.Dont forget to close the discussion please.
Regards
S Khan

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Brief Answer:
Game of demands and supply

Detailed Answer:
Thank you for getting back!
IHD and CAD are basically the name of the same issue. One is the effect and the other is the causative perspective name. For example, coronary artery blockage or reduced perfusion irrespective of the cause leads to decreased perfusion of cardiac muscles thus causing ischemia (a restriction in blood supply to tissues, causing a shortage of oxygen and glucose needed for cellular metabolism (to keep tissue alive)) and thus leading to death of cardiac cells called MI. So answer would be no, Coronary artery compromise leads to ischemia unless there is some excessive use of myocardium or some infection of the myocytes which may lead to ischemia without perfusion issues, just the demands are more than the supply, the hypertrophic hearts are examples of that.
In nutshell, coronary artery blockage is not needed nor necessary to cause ischemia, its just the game of demands and supply.Which ever way it gets disturbed by either increased consumption or decreased supply ( blockage) , ischemia will occur.
Now AF and whether just having AF is called IHD so i mentioned in my previous answers of many possible risk factors other than IHD possible for the AF.
I said and i quote "Atrial fibrillation (AF) shares strong associations with other cardiovascular diseases, such as heart failure, coronary artery disease (CAD), valvular heart disease, diabetes mellitus, and hypertension. These factors have been termed upstream risk factors, but the relationship between comorbid cardiovascular disease and AF is incompletely understood and more complex than this terminology implies. The exact mechanisms by which cardiovascular risk factors predispose to AF are not understood fully but are under intense investigation. Catecholamine excess, hemodynamic stress, atrial ischemia, atrial inflammation, metabolic stress, and neurohumoral cascade activation are all purported to promote AF."
In nutshell, AF is a conduction disorder and that conduction can be deranged due to many reasons and not just the IHD.
I hope it clears the mind. I appreciate the curiosity. Seek a cardiologist for further guidance. Don't forget to close the discussion please.
May the odds be ever in your favour.
Regards
S Khan

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