Early Rhythm Control Strategy in Early Atrial Fibrillation Patients

Atrial fibrillation (AF) pharmaceutical treatment strategy on when to start rhythm control has been debated for decades. In early studies, these 2 strategies exhibited equivalent efficacy; however, more recent studies based on CHA₂DS₂-VASc score indicated that early rhythm control (ERC) is more beneficial than UC. We hypothesized that ERC might benefit persons with AF in other cardiovascular outcomes, regardless of the CHA₂DS₂-VASc score. To elucidate this, we conducted the present study.A retrospective cohort study was conducted using the Yinzhou Regional Health Care Database. We included all patients diagnosed with AF within 1 year and excluded those without age/sex information, without ERC/UC treatment prescription, or with ongoing cancer. The primary outcome was major cardiovascular events (MACE). We used inverse probability of treatment weighting (IPTW) for covariate weighting.A total of 7,161 patients diagnosed with early-stage AF were included in this study. Of them, 2,248 and 4,913 were included in the ERC and UC groups, respectively. During the mean follow-up period of 3.2 years (27,945 person-year), and after IPTW, ERC showed significantly lower risk for MACE (HR: 0.75 [0.61, 0.96], P = 0.02) and heart failure (HF; HR: 0.71 [0.54, 0.95], P = 0.01). No significant results were obtained for stroke, cardiovascular death, or all-cause mortality.ERC is more beneficial to early-stage Persons with AF than UC for MACEs, particularly HF.