Table 1.
Baseline characteristics of included studies
| Characteristics | Number of studies (number of patients) | Summary estimate (95% CI) |
|---|---|---|
| Study designa | ||
| Observational | 67 (64 518) | 91.8% |
| RCT | 6 (2641) | 8.2% |
| Prospective | 39 (23 429) | 53.4% |
| Retrospective | 33 (42 954) | 45.2% |
| Not reported | 1 (776) | 1.4% |
| Quality assessmenta | ||
| Good | 25 (30 264) | 34.2% |
| Fair | 40 (33 796) | 54.8% |
| Poor | 8 (3099) | 11.0% |
| Patient demographics | ||
| Age (in years, mean) | 71 (53 986) | 59.7 (58.8–60.6) |
| Male (%) | 73 (67 159) | 71.5 (70.0–73.0) |
| Types of AF | ||
| PAF | 68 (43 377) | 62.2 (51.4–72.5) |
| Non-PAF | 68 (43 777) | 37.8 (27.5–48.6) |
| AF duration (years) | 49 (37 346) | 4.2 (3.7–4.7) |
| Ablation energy | ||
| RFA only | 50 (35 576) | 68.5% |
| CRYO only | 10 (3366) | 13.7% |
| LASER only | 1 (90) | 1.4% |
| CRYO + RFA | 7 (7086) | 9.6% |
| Not reported | 5 (21 041) | 6.8% |
| Follow-up time (years) | 58 (38 302) | 4.8 (4.3–5.3) |
| Comorbidities (% of patients) | ||
| Hypertension | 69 (51 379) | 50.6 (46.9–54.3) |
| Previous stroke | 42 (36 253) | 7.8 (6.7–9.1) |
| Heart failure | 34 (33 422) | 9.6 (7.3–12.1) |
| Coronary artery disease | 38 (30 988) | 12.7 (10.2–15.4) |
| Cardiomyopathy | 12 (12 539) | 7.0 (4.6–9.8) |
| Vascular disease | 23 (22 369) | 9.1 (5.0–14.1) |
| Diabetes | 60 (45 182) | 10.7 (8.9–12.5) |
| Mean CHA2DS2-VASc scoreb | 37 (30 806) | 1.6 (1.4–1.9) |
| Echocardiography parameters | ||
| LVEF (%) | 50 (32 154) | 59.6 (58.4–60.7) |
| LAD (mm) | 55 (34 133) | 42.6 (41.6–43.6) |
Std, standard deviation; PAF, paroxysmal atrial fibrillation; RFA, radiofrequency ablation; CRYO, cryoablation; laser, laser balloon ablation; LVEF, left ventricular ejection fraction; LAD, left atrial diameter; RCT, randomized control trial. aSample size of studies with different designs and qualities were reported.
bCHA2DS2-VASc score is a score used to evaluate risk of experiencing thromboembolic events of AF patients in which a point each is given for the presence of congestive heart failure (C), hypertension (H), age 65–74 years old (A), diabetes (D), vascular disease (VASc) and female sex and 2 points each are given for age > = 75 years old and history of stroke (S). The total score ranges from 0 to 9 with the higher the score, the higher the risk.98