Clinical Implications of Brief Device-Detected Atrial Tachyarrhythmias in a Cardiac Rhythm Management Device Population: Results from the Registry of Atrial Tachycardia and Atrial Fibrillation Episodes
Authors' conclusion
In the RATE Registry, rigorously adjudicated short episodes of AT/AF, as defined, were not associated with increased risk of clinical events compared with patients without documented AT/AF.
Study context
- Population
- Patients with pacemakers or implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs)
- Participants
- 5,379 patients · 225 US sites
- Exposure
- Patients with vs without clinical events, by AT/AF episode duration
- Pacemakern = 3,141
- ICDn = 2,238
- Outcome
- Association of adjudicated AT/AF (long: onset and/or offset not within a single EGM recording; short: both within a single EGM recording) with predefined clinical events, including stroke
- Follow-up
- Median 22.9 months
Methodological detailsmulticentre, 225 US sites
- Multicentre
- 225 US sites
Main finding
As reported in the abstract
Short AT/AF in patients with vs without clinical events
- Pacemaker: with clinical events vs Pacemaker: without clinical events: P = 0.21
- ICD: with clinical events vs ICD: without clinical events: 0.66
Observational data: associations, not effects.
Further findings
Only short AT/AF episodes documented
- Long AT/AF, patients with vs without clinical events: Pacemaker, with clinical events 31.9%
- Long AT/AF, patients with vs without clinical events: Pacemaker, without clinical events 22.1%
- Long AT/AF, patients with vs without clinical events: ICD, with clinical events 28.7%
- Long AT/AF, patients with vs without clinical events: ICD, without clinical events 20.2%
- Long AT/AF, patients with vs without clinical events: P<0.05 for both groups
≥1 AT/AF episode (any duration)
- Patients with ≥1 AT/AF episode
- 50%
- 37 531 electrogram (EGMs) adjudicated
Original publication
Clinical Implications of Brief Device-Detected Atrial Tachyarrhythmias in a Cardiac Rhythm Management Device Population: Results from the Registry of Atrial Tachycardia and Atrial Fibrillation Episodes. Circulation. Published 18 October 2016. doi:10.
Summarised from the published abstract; every number is checked against it