Long-term outcomes of catheter ablation for atrial fibrillation in octogenarians

Catheter ablation is superior to standard medical therapy in controlling atrial fibrillation (AF). There is limited data on the long-term outcomes of AF ablation in octogenarians.

This study aims to rigorously evaluate the efficacy and safety of AF catheter ablation in octogenarians, compared to non-octogenarians.

In this retrospective, multicentre, international study in 13 centres in the United Kingdom, France, and Switzerland, the long-term outcomes of 473 consecutive octogenarian patients undergoing catheter ablation for AF were compared to 473 propensity-matched non-octogenarian controls (median age 81.3 [80.0, 83.0] vs 64.4 [56.5, 70.7] years, 54.3% vs 35.1% females; p-value for both <0.001). The primary endpoint was the recurrence of atrial arrhythmia during 365 days' follow-up after an initial blanking period of 90 days (median follow-up time 322 [153, 365] days.

Acute success of the ablation was achieved in 97% of octogenarians. When comparing non-octogenarians vs octogenarians, there were more complications in the octogenarians group (11.4% vs 7.0%, p=0.018), with the most common adverse events being vascular complications (3.8% vs 2.7%). The median follow-up time was 322 [153, 365] days. Through day 365, 131 (27.7%) octogenarians had a recurrence of atrial arrhythmia as compared to 111 (23.5%) non-octogenarians (odds ratio 1.49; 95% confidence interval 1.16-1.92; p=0.002). In a multivariable regression model including gender, previous AF ablation, vascular disease, chronic kidney disease, CHA2DS2-VASc score, left atrial dilatation, and indwelling cardiac implantable electronic device, age above 80 remained an independent predictor of recurrence of atrial arrhythmias throughout 365 days' follow-up.

Age over 80 is associated with higher rates of recurrence of atrial arrhythmia on 365 days' follow-up post-catheter ablation for atrial fibrillation.

Arrhythmia recurrence on follow-up