Differences in Quality of Life Between Atrial Fibrillation Patients with Low Stroke Risk Treated With and Without Catheter Ablation

BACKGROUND: Impacts of a single radiofrequency ablation (RFA) on quality of life (QoL) were not well investigated in atrial fibrillation (AF) patients with low stroke risk. METHODS AND RESULTS: Nine hundred AF patients with low CHADS(2) score (ie, CHADS(2) ≤1) who completed both a baseline and 6-month Atrial Fibrillation Effect on QualiTy-of-life (AFEQT) questionnaire were selected from The Chinese Atrial Fibrillation Registry between 2011 and 2013. A final cohort of 222 patients was constructed after a propensity score matching with 74 in the RFA group and 148 in the non-RFA group. Domains of AFEQT were balanced at baseline between the 2 groups. No statistically significant differences were noted in QoL (all P>0.05) when AFEQT at 6 months was compared between groups, except for the symptoms domain (83.07±12.37 units in the RFA group vs. 77.68±17.14 units in the non-RFA group; P=0.008) and treatment satisfaction domain (76.34±14.92 units in the RFA group vs. 70.38±16.81 units in the non-RFA group; P=0.01). Within-group changes in all domains and the global score of the questionnaire were moderate to large, whereas between-group comparisons in baseline to 6-month changes and QoL at 6 months were small to moderate according to Cohen effect sizes. CONCLUSIONS: QoL was balanced at baseline and improved at 6 months in both groups from this observational propensity-matched cohort based on the AFEQT questionnaire. However, RFA treatment was only associated with small-to-moderate superiorities over non-RFA treatment. The role of RFA in QoL improvement among AF patients with low stroke risk requires further research.