Catheter Ablation for Atrial Fibrillation Cuts Risk for Dementia, Death

FRIDAY, Aug. 25, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- In patients with atrial fibrillation (AF), those undergoing catheter ablation have a lower risk for incident dementia and mortality, according to a study published online Aug. 23 in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.

Stephanie L. Harrison, Ph.D., from the University of Liverpool in the United Kingdom, and colleagues examined associations of catheter ablation with incident dementia and mortality in older adults with AF. The analysis included 20,746 matched participants (mean age, 68 years; 59 percent male) with and without catheter ablation.

The researchers found that the risk for dementia was significantly lower in the catheter ablation cohort (hazard ratio [HR], 0.52), as was the risk for all-cause mortality (HR, 0.58). Associations persisted in analyses of subgroups aged 65 to 79 years; aged 80 years and older; males; females; participants who received oral anticoagulants during follow-up; participants with paroxysmal and nonparoxysmal AF; and participants with and without hypertension, diabetes mellitus, ischemic stroke, chronic kidney disease, and heart failure, including heart failure with preserved ejection fraction and heart failure with reduced ejection fraction.

“The lower risk of dementia and mortality could be an important consideration when determining appropriate patient-centered rhythm control strategies for patients with atrial fibrillation,” write the authors.

Abstract/Full Text