Atrial Fibrillation Ablation Outcomes and Heart Failure (from the Kansai Plus Atrial Fibrillation Registry)

The impact of rhythm outcomes on heart failure (HF) hospitalizations remains unknown after radiofrequency catheter ablation (RFCA) of atrial fibrillation (AF). We sought to elucidate whether AF recurrence was associated with HF hospitalizations after AF RFCA. We conducted a large-scale, prospective, multicenter, observational study (Kansai Plus Atrial Fibrillation Registry), enrolling 5,010 consecutive patients (age 64 10 years, 27.3% female, and 35.7% nonparoxysmal AF) who underwent an initial AF RFCA at 26 centers. The median follow-up duration was 2.9 years. The cumulative 3-year incidence of HF hospitalizations after the initial RFCA was 1.84% (0.69%/year). Hospitalized patients with HF were older with a higher prevalence of nonparoxysmal AF, renal dysfunction, diabetes, and underlying heart disease pre-RFCA. HF hospitalizations occurred more often in patients with than without recurrences (3.27 vs 0.84%, log-rank p <0.0001). After adjusting for confounders using a Cox model, AF recurrence remained an independent predictor of HF hospitalizations (hazard ratio [HR] 2.84, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.80 to 4.47, p <0.0001). AF recurrence was a distinct HF hospitalization risk in patients with a left ventricular ejection fraction =50% (HR 4.54, 95% CI 2.38 to 8.65, p <0.0001) but not <50% (HR 1.31, 95% CI 0.65 to 2.62, p = 0.45), with significant interactions. Furthermore, patients with AF recurrences within 1 year had a greater HF hospitalization risk after 1 year (1.61% vs 0.79%, log-rank p = 0.019). In conclusion, AF recurrence after RFCA was independently associated with HF hospitalizations. (c) 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. (Am J Cardiol 2022;189:1-11)

Automated summary

The study found that there is a connection between atrial fibrillation recurrence and heart failure hospitalizations after radiofrequency catheter ablation. Patients with recurrent atrial fibrillation had a higher risk of heart failure hospitalizations.