Comparison of Long-Term Adverse Outcomes in Patients With Atrial Fibrillation Having Ablation Versus Antiarrhythmic Medications

The impact of atrial fibrillation (AF) catheter ablation versus chronic antiarrhythmic therapy alone on clinical outcomes such as death and stroke remains unclear. We compared adverse outcomes for AF ablation versus chronic antiarrhythmic therapy in 1,070 adults with AF treated between 2010 and 2014 in the Kaiser Permanente Northern California and Southern California healthcare delivery systems. Patients who underwent AF catheter ablation were matched to patients treated with only antiarrhythmic medications, based on age, gender, history of heart failure, history of coronary heart disease, history of hypertension, history of diabetes, and high-dimensional propensity score.

Source: The American Journal of Cardiology - November 18, 2019 Category: Cardiology Authors: James V. Freeman, Grace H. Tabada, Kristi Reynolds, Sue Hee Sung, Daniel E. Singer, Paul J. Wang, Taylor I. Liu, Nigel Gupta, Mark A. Hlatky, Alan S. Go Source Type: research