Arrhythmias & electrophysiologyCohort study
Management of recurrent atrial fibrillation after catheter ablation: 5-year outcomes of repeat catheter ablation vs. antiarrhythmic therapy
- Retrospective cohort study
- propensity-score matched
- TriNetX database
Authors' conclusion
Repeat CA was associated with lower mortality, hospitalization, and HF exacerbation over 5 years.
Study context
- Population
- Adults (≥18 years) with recurrent atrial fibrillation (AF) after index catheter ablation (CA), 3-month blanking period without rhythm-control therapy697 per group after propensity score matching (PSM)
- Participants
- 4,056 adults
- Exposure
- Repeat CA vs AAD therapy
- Repeat CAn = 697
- AADn = 697reference
- Outcome
- All-cause mortality, all-cause hospitalization, HF exacerbation, ischaemic stroke and major bleeding
- Follow-up
- 5 years
Main finding
As reported in the abstract
All-cause mortality, all-cause hospitalization, HF exacerbation, ischaemic stroke
Repeat CA
3.3%
All-cause mortality · All-cause hospitalization 42.8% · heart failure (HF) exacerbation 12.5% · Ischaemic stroke 5.3%
Repeat CA vs AADHazard ratio (95% CI)P value
all-cause mortality
0.44(0.27–0.72)
P < 0.01all-cause hospitalization
0.71(0.61–0.82)
P < 0.01HF exacerbation
0.50(0.39–0.64)
P < 0.01Observational data: associations, not effects.
Parts of this Brief are withheld: the automatic checks could not confirm them against the abstract.
Original publication
Management of recurrent atrial fibrillation after catheter ablation: 5-year outcomes of repeat catheter ablation vs. antiarrhythmic therapy. Europace. Published 17 August 2026. doi:10.1093/europace/euag215
Summarised from the published abstract; every number is checked against it