The impact of supraventricular ectopic complexes in different age groups and risk of recurrent atrial fibrillation after antiarrhythmic medication or catheter ablation

Abstract

Introduction: Supraventricular ectopic complexes (SVEC) are known risk factors of recurrent atrial fibrillation (AF). However, the impact of SVEC in different age groups is unknown. We aimed to investigate the risk of AF recurrence with higher SVEC burden in patients +/- 57 years, respectively, after treatment with antiarrhythmic medication (AAD) or catheter ablation (CA). Methods: In total, 260 patients with LVEF >40% and age 195 SVEC/day. AF recurrence was defined as AF >= 1 min, AF-related cardioversion or hospitalization. Results: Age >57 years were significantly associated with higher AF recurrence rate after CA (58% vs 36%, p = 0.02). After CA, we observed a higher SVEC burden during follow-up in patients >57 years which was not observed in the younger age group treatedwith CA (p = 0.006). High SVEC burden at 3 months after CA was associated with AF recurrence in older patients but not in younger patients (>57 years: HR 3.4 [1.4-7.9], p = 0.005). We did not find any age-related differences after AAD. Conclusion: We found that younger and older patients respond differently to CA and that SVEC burden was only associated with AF recurrence in older patients. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.