Antiarrhythmic drug therapy and all-cause mortality after catheter ablation of atrial fibrillation: A propensity-matched analysis

BACKGROUND It is not dear if antiarrhythmic drug therapy (AAD) after catheter ablation (CA) of atrial fibrillation (AF) increases mortality. OBJECTIVE To determine whether there is an association between AAD therapy and mortality after CA of AF. METHODS There were 3624 consecutive patients with AF (mean age: 59 +/- 11 years, women: 27%, paroxysmal AF: 58%). An AAD was used in 2253 patients (62%, AAD group) for a mean duration of 1.3 +/- 0.8 years, during a mean follow-up of 6.7 +/- 2.2 years after CA of AF. Using propensity score matching, with every 2 patients using an AAD matched to 1 patient who did not use AAD (NO-AAD group), Cox regression models were utilized to assess the association between AAD use (as a time-variable covariate) and all-cause mortality. RESULTS There were a total of 50 deaths (2.2%) in the AAD and 62 deaths (4.5%) in the NO-AAD groups, respectively (P = .02). At the time of death, 46 of 50 patients (92%) who died in the AAD cohort were still using an AAD (P = .21, compared to baseline use). On multivariate analysis, although the risk of death was not statistically significant between the AAD and NO-AAD cohorts, there was a trend towards mortality benefit with AAD therapy (hazard ratio [HR]: 0.66, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.43-1.00, P = .05), regardless of the rhythm or anticoagulation status. CONCLUSION AAD use after CA of AF is not associated with an increased risk of mortality, suggesting that when carefully chosen and monitored, AADs appear to be safe after CA of AF.