Age, sex and the quantity of atrial fibrosis before AF ablation: what about systematic bias and confounding factors?

I read the article by Akoumet al. (1) with great interest. Their observational cohort study included a total of 939 consecutive patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) undergoing catheter ablation and 15 non-AF control group in whom late-gadolinium enhancement magnetic resonance imaging (LGE-MRI) for atrial fibrosis quantification has been performed. As a result of the study analysis, women with AF revealed older age, higher previous history of stroke and higher left atrial fibrosis as compared to men. Female sex, persistent AF, time from AF diagnosis, and higher left atrium volume index (LAVI) were found to be independently associated with higher fibrosis in multivariate analysis. However, there were some points should be commented on by the authors.
Source: Europace - Category: Cardiology Source Type: research