Table 1.
Baseline characteristics of patients undergoing ablation or not before and after propensity score matching
| Variable | All patients | Before matching | After 1:1 matching | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No ablation | Ablation | P-value | SMD | No ablation | Ablation | P-value | SMD | ||
| No. patients | 1034 | 642 | 392 | 293 | 293 | ||||
| Clinical characteristics | |||||||||
| Age, years | 69 [63, 76] | 70 [64, 79] | 67 [62, 72] | <0.001 | 0.46 | 67 [62, 73] | 68 [63, 73] | 0.53 | 0.03 |
| Female sex, % | 478 (46.2) | 301 (46.9) | 177 (45.2) | 0.63 | 0.04 | 134 (45.7) | 145 (49.5) | 0.41 | 0.08 |
| BMI, kg/m2 | 24.5 [22.2, 27.0] | 24.1 [21.8, 26.5] | 25.0 [22.9, 27.7] | <0.001 | 0.32 | 24.7 [22.3, 27.4] | 24.7 [22.6, 27.4] | 0.74 | 0.02 |
| Months since AF diagnosis | 10 [2, 46] | 12 [1, 60] | 9 [3, 36] | 0.78 | 0.37 | 9 [1, 48] | 10 [4, 36] | 0.39 | 0.28 |
| Persistent AF, % | 644 (62.3) | 390 (60.7) | 254 (64.8) | 0.22 | 0.08 | 181 (61.8) | 186 (63.5) | 0.73 | 0.04 |
| CHA2DS2-VASc score | 3 [2, 4] | 4 [3, 5] | 3 [2, 4] | <0.001 | 0.40 | 3 [2, 4] | 3 [2, 4] | 0.80 | 0.01 |
| NYHA class I–II, % | 813 (78.6) | 499 (77.7) | 314 (80.1) | 0.41 | 0.06 | 230 (78.5) | 232 (79.2) | 0.92 | 0.02 |
| Systolic BP, mmHg | 128 [118, 140] | 128 [120, 141] | 128 [117, 140] | 0.43 | 0.08 | 125 [120, 140] | 128 [117, 140] | 0.61 | 0.04 |
| Diastolic BP, mmHg | 80 [70, 87] | 77 [70, 84] | 80 [73, 90] | <0.001 | 0.39 | 80 [71, 86] | 80 [72, 89] | 0.23 | 0.10 |
| Heart rate, bpm | 78 [66, 86] | 76 [62, 84] | 80 [70, 88] | <0.001 | 0.31 | 80 [70, 88] | 78 [70, 88] | 0.77 | 0.04 |
| Coexisting conditions | |||||||||
| Hypertension, % | 612 (59.2) | 371 (57.8) | 241 (61.5) | 0.27 | 0.08 | 176 (60.1) | 179 (61.1) | 0.87 | 0.02 |
| Diabetes, % | 181 (17.5) | 121 (18.8) | 60 (15.3) | 0.17 | 0.09 | 51 (17.4) | 50 (17.1) | 1.00 | 0.01 |
| Stroke, % | 156 (15.1) | 109 (17.0) | 47 (12.0) | 0.04 | 0.14 | 39 (13.3) | 39 (13.3) | 1.00 | <0.001 |
| CAD, % | 139 (13.4) | 91 (14.2) | 48 (12.2) | 0.43 | 0.06 | 47 (16.0) | 40 (13.7) | 0.49 | 0.07 |
| HCM, % | 68 (6.6) | 40 (6.2) | 28 (7.1) | 0.66 | 0.04 | 18 (6.1) | 25 (8.5) | 0.34 | 0.09 |
| COPD, % | 16 (1.5) | 14 (2.2) | 2 (0.5) | 0.04 | 0.15 | 6 (2.0) | 2 (0.7) | 0.29 | 0.12 |
| SAHS, % | 5 (0.5) | 3 (0.5) | 2 (0.5) | 1.00 | 0.006 | 1 (0.3) | 1 (0.3) | 1.00 | <0.001 |
| CKD, %a | 187 (19.0) | 135 (22.1) | 52 (14.0) | 0.002 | 0.21 | 46 (15.7) | 46 (15.7) | 1.00 | <0.001 |
| Laboratory examination | |||||||||
| SCr, μmol/L | 82 [71, 96] | 83 [71, 97] | 81 [71, 92] | 0.049 | 0.21 | 80 [70, 94] | 81 [70, 93] | 0.94 | 0.01 |
| NT-proBNP, pg/mL | 1439 [920, 2177] | 1566 [1000, 2312] | 1179 [843, 1847] | <0.001 | 0.23 | 1493 [934, 2185] | 1319 [874, 1975] | 0.07 | 0.04 |
| Echocardiography | |||||||||
| LVEF, % | 63 [59, 66] | 63 [59, 66] | 63 [59, 66] | 0.89 | 0.002 | 63 [59, 66] | 63 [59, 66] | 0.73 | 0.02 |
| LAD, mm | 46 [43, 51] | 47 [44, 53] | 45 [42, 49] | <0.001 | 0.57 | 45 [43, 48] | 45 [42, 49] | 0.89 | 0.03 |
| LVEDD, mm | 48 [44, 51] | 48 [44, 52] | 48 [45, 51] | 0.47 | 0.10 | 48 [44, 52] | 47 [45, 51] | 0.60 | 0.07 |
| LVESD, mm | 31 [29, 34] | 31 [28, 34] | 31 [29, 33] | 0.55 | 0.08 | 31 [28, 34] | 31 [28, 33] | 0.62 | 0.06 |
| Medicationsb | |||||||||
| ACE inhibitor, ARB or ARNI, % | 591 (57.2) | 382 (59.5) | 209 (53.3) | 0.06 | 0.13 | 161 (54.9) | 155 (52.9) | 0.68 | 0.04 |
| Aldosterone antagonist, % | 417 (40.3) | 281 (43.8) | 136 (34.7) | 0.01 | 0.19 | 107 (36.5) | 110 (37.5) | 0.86 | 0.02 |
| β-blocker, % | 698 (67.5) | 422 (65.7) | 276 (70.4) | 0.14 | 0.10 | 208 (71.0) | 210 (71.7) | 0.93 | 0.02 |
| Diuretic, % | 575 (55.6) | 389 (60.6) | 186 (47.4) | <0.001 | 0.27 | 154 (52.6) | 151 (51.5) | 0.87 | 0.02 |
| Digoxin, % | 222 (21.5) | 151 (23.5) | 71 (18.1) | 0.048 | 0.13 | 55 (18.8) | 54 (18.4) | 1.00 | 0.01 |
| Oral anticoagulant, % | 1006 (97.3) | 614 (95.6) | 392 (100.0) | <0.001 | 0.30 | 293 (100.0) | 293 (100.0) | NA | <0.001 |
| Antiarrhythmic drugs(I/III/IV), % | 218 (21.1) | 123 (19.2) | 95 (24.2) | 0.06 | 0.12 | 76 (25.9) | 74 (25.3) | 0.93 | 0.02 |
Data were expressed as median [Q1 and Q3], or n (%) unless otherwise specified.
ACE, angiotensin-converting enzyme; AF, atrial fibrillation; ARB, angiotensin II receptor blockade; ARNI, angiotensin receptor neprilysin inhibitor; BMI, body mass index; BP, blood pressure; bpm, beats per minute; CAD, coronary artery disease; CHA2DS2-VASc, congestive heart failure, hypertension, age ≥ 75years, diabetes, stroke/transient ischaemic attack, vascular disease, age 65 to 74years, sex category; CKD, chronic kidney disease; COPD, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; HCM, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy; HFpEF, heart failure with preserved ejection fraction; LAD, left atrial diameter; LVEDD, left ventricular end-diastolic diameter; LVEF, left ventricular ejection fraction; LVESD, left ventricular end-systolic diameter; NT-proBNP, N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide; NYHA, New York Heart Association; SAHS, sleep apnoea hypopnoea syndrome; SCr, serum creatinine; SMD, standardized mean difference; Stroke, haemorrhagic stroke, ischaemic stroke, and transient ischaemic attack.
aCKD was defined as estimated glomerular filtration rate < 60 mL/min/1.73 m2 using the Modification of Diet in Renal Disease formula.
bPrior history of drug therapy documented at admission, in-hospital therapy, and prescriptions at discharge of the index hospitalization.