Atrial fibrillation in cancer survivors – a systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND: Atrial fibrillation (AF) is a common cardiac complication during cancer treatment. It is unclear if cancer survivors have increased AF risk when compared to the population. AF screening is now recommended in patients ≥65 years, however there are no specific recommendations in the oncology population. We sought to compare the AF detection rate of cancer survivors compared to the general population. METHODS: We searched the Pubmed, Embase and Web of Science databases using search terms related to AF and cancer mapped to subject headings. We included English language studies, limited to adults > 18 years who were > 12 months post completion of cancer treatment. Using a random-effects model we calculated the overall AF detection rate. Meta-regression analysis was performed to assess for potential causes for study heterogeneity. RESULTS: Sixteen studies were included in the study. The combined AF detection rate amongst all the studies was 4.7% (95% C.I 4.0-5.4%), which equated to a combined annualised AF rate of 0.7% (95% C.I 0.1–0.98%). There was significant heterogeneity between studies (I(2) = 99.8%, p < 0.001). In the breast cancer cohort (n = 6 studies), the combined annualised AF rate was 0.9% (95% C.I 0.1–2.3%), with significant heterogeneity (I(2) = 99.9%, p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: Whilst the results should be interpreted with caution due to study heterogeneity, AF rates in patients with cancer survival >12 months were not significantly increased compared to the general population. STUDY REGISTRATION: Open Science Framework - DOI: 10.17605/OSF.IO/APSYG. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s40959-023-00180-3.