Catheter ablation versus medical therapy for atrial fibrillation in patients with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Background The benefit of catheter ablation in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) for patients with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) remains uncertain. Objective We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to compare catheter ablation and medical therapy (antiarrhythmics for rhythm or rate control) in patients with AF and HFpEF. Methods We searched PubMed, Embase and Cochrane Central. Outcomes were the composite endpoints of death or heart failure (HF) hospitalization, all-cause-death, cardiovascular death, all-cause-rehospitalization and HF hospitalization. Statistical analysis was performed using the R program (version 4.3.2). Heterogeneity was assessed with I2 statistics. Results We included 20,257 patients from 8 studies. Of those, 3 were derived from RCTs, either through post-hoc analysis or subgroup analysis, and 5 were observational studies. The median follow-up ranged from 24.6 to 61.2 months. As compared to medical therapy, catheter ablation was associated with a statistically significant lower risk of death or HF hospitalization (HR 0.62; 95% CI 0.47 - 0.83; p=0.001; I2 =66%), all-cause-death (HR 0.68; 95% CI 0.46 - 0.99; p=0.047; I2 =61%), cardiovascular death (HR 0.42; 95% CI 0.21 - 0.84; p=0.014; I2 =22%) and HF hospitalization (HR 0.43; 95% CI 0.23 - 0.82; p=0.011; I2 =87%). Conclusion In this meta-analysis, catheter ablation was associated with lower risk of the all-cause mortality, cardiovascular death, HF hospitalization and all-cause-rehospitalization in comparison to medical of patients with AF and HFpEF.