The effect of concomitant chronic kidney disease on the recurrence of atrial fibrillation after catheter ablation: A protocol for systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND: Some new trials have reported the effectiveness of chronic kidney disease on recurrence of atrial fibrillation following catheter ablation. Limited by small number of studies and insufficient outcomes, previous meta-analyses also failed to draw a consistent conclusion on this topic. We thus conducted a new meta-analysis to systematically analyze the effect of chronic kidney disease on recurrence of atrial fibrillation following catheter ablation. METHODS: Two independent investigators followed The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) reporting guidelines to conduct the present meta-analysis. From the inception to June 2021, the EMBASE, PubMed, Web of Science, and Cochrane Library electronic databases were searched using the key phrases “atrial fibrillation,” “chronic kidney disease,” “catheter ablation,” “renal failure,” “renal function,” “renal insufficiency,” “end-stage renal disease,” and “dialysis” for all relevant English-language trials. Observational or randomized controlled trial focusing on assessing the effectiveness of chronic kidney disease on recurrence of atrial fibrillation following catheter ablation was included. P < .05 was set as the significance level. RESULTS: Our hypothesis was that chronic kidney disease is associated with increased atrial fibrosis and a higher risk of arrhythmia recurrence and that restoration of normal rhythm through catheter ablation is associated with improved kidney function. REGISTRATION NUMBER: 10.17605/OSF.IO/3WJAE.