Background: Catheter ablation of atrial fibrillation (AF) is recommended for selected older patients. However, the preventive effects of AF ablation on cardiovascular events and death remain unclear, especially in older patients. This study aimed to investigate the impact of AF ablation on the incidence of cardiovascular events and death in very old nonvalvular AF (NVAF) patients.
Methods: We conducted a prospective cohort study of consecutive patients with NVAF aged ≥80 years and using direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs). We defined cardiovascular events as acute heart failure (AHF), strokes and systemic embolisms (SSEs), acute coronary syndrome (ACS), and sudden cardiac death (SCD) and cardiovascular death as AHF/SSE/ACS-related death and SCD. We compared the 3-year incidence of cardiovascular events and death between the patients who underwent AF ablation (Ablation group) and those who received medical therapy only (Medication group).
Results: Among the 782 NVAF patients using DOACs, propensity score matching provided 208 patients in each group. The Ablation group had a significantly lower 3-year incidence of cardiovascular events and death than the Medication group: cardiovascular events, 24 (13.2%) vs. 43 (23.3%), log-rank P = 0.009 and hazard ratio (HR) 0.52 (95% confidence interval (CI) 0.32-0.86) and cardiovascular deaths, 5 (3.0%) vs. 15 (7.8%), log-rank P = 0.019 and HR 0.32 (95% CI 0.16-0.88).
Conclusions: In very old NVAF patients using DOACs, those who underwent AF ablation had a lower incidence of both cardiovascular events and death than those who received medical therapy only.
Keywords: atrial fibrillation; cardiovascular death; cardiovascular event; catheter ablation; very old patient.