Sex differences and arrhythmia recurrence after catheter ablation for atrial fibrillation
Abstract Background Several previous studies reported female sex is associated with high recurrence rate of atrial tachyarrhythmia (ATA) after catheter ablation (CA) for atrial fibrillation (AF). Purpose We investigated the relationship between sex differences and recurrence rate of ATA after CA for AF in a large single-center database. Methods We enrolled consecutive 2033 patients undergoing first time CA for AF in our institution between Feb.2004 and Dec. 2017. We compared the long-term outcomes between female (N=603) and male (N=1430). Results Female patients were older (70.8 vs. 66.3, p<0.0001), and had lower prevalence of persistent AF (23.1% vs. 33.5%, p<0.0001). Also, left atrial dimension was smaller (40.0 vs. 41.1, p=0.0005). and prior antiarrhythmic drug use was more prevalent (38.2% vs. 28.7%, p<0.0001) in female patients. Ablation method for pulmonary vein isolation (PVI) was radiofrequency catheter ablation in 1634 patients (80.4%) and cryoballoon ablation in 399 (20.6%). Median follow-up duration was 1342±115 days. The 3-year ATA recurrence rate after first CA was 35.8% overall: 39.9% in female and 34.2% in male (Log-rank P=0.01). A multivariate analysis revealed that the factors associated with higher ATA recurrence rate were female (p=0.01), persistent AF (p=0.006), and larger left atrial dimension (p=0.007). Conclusions Female gender is an independent predictor of arrhythmia recurrence after CA for AF. Funding Acknowledgement Type of funding source: None