Impact of the Temporal Relationship Between Atrial Fibrillation and Heart Failure on Prognosis After Ablation.

Background: The purpose of this study was to elucidate the effect of the temporal relationship between atrial fibrillation (AF) and heart failure (HF) on clinical outcomes after catheter ablation.

Methods and results: We included 129 consecutive patients with AF and HF who underwent catheter ablation in hospital from December 2014 to September 2017. The patients were divided into 2 groups based on the temporal relationship between AF and HF. Group 1 consisted of 42 patients with AF following HF while Group 2 consisted of 87 patients with AF preceding HF or those who developed both of them simultaneously at the timing of first visit to a doctor. The primary endpoint was a composite of death and hospitalization due to HF during a 2-year follow-up. AF recurrence was more common in Group 1 (45% vs. 23%; hazard ratio [HR], 2.49; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.25-4.94; P=0.009). Death and HF hospitalization were more frequent in Group 1 (19 [45%], 6 [7%] patients, respectively, P<0.0001). After adjustment for several covariates, patients in Group 1 were independently associated with poorer outcomes after AF ablation (HR, 8.66; 95% CI, 2.942-5.5; P<0.0001).

Conclusions: Adverse clinical outcomes of death, HF hospitalization and AF recurrence were more frequent in patients with AF following HF than in those with AF preceding HF.