The clinical risk factors associated with late recurrence in patients with non-valvular atrial fibrillation (AF) (NVAF) undergoing radiofrequency catheter ablation (RFCA) remain unknown. Furthermore, the current prognostic risk score system is commonly used in such patients as a noninvasive method to assess late AF recurrence. According to recent research, the Age, creatinine, and ejection fraction (ACEF) score is a useful risk score for cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. As a result, we hypothesized that pre-ablation ACEF score could be used to assess late recurrence in patients with NVAF. We included 325 NVAF patients undergoing RFCA. During a median follow-up period of 12 months, patients with late AF recurrence had higher ACEF scores (P < .001). The pre-ablation ACEF score was a risk factor for late AF recurrence after RFCA (P = .027). The ACEF score was a predictor of late AF recurrence after RFCA, with an AUC of 0.624 (P = .001). Moreover, the AUC of left atrial diameter (LAD) was 0.7 (P < .001), which was higher than the ACEF score, but no significant difference was found (P = .104). The ACEF score was positively correlated with LAD, advanced age, and B-type natriuretic peptide. In patients with NVAF, the pre-ablation ACEF score is a valuable risk score for assessing late AF recurrence after RFCA, as with LAD.
Keywords: Atrial fibrillation; age creatinine, and ejection fraction (ACEF) score; late recurrence; radiofrequency catheter ablation (RFCA).