Abstract
Background
Coronary artery calcium score (CACS) is associated with an increased risk of atrial
fibrillation (AF) development, but scarce data are available regarding the impact
on AF recurrence. This study aims to assess the impact of CACS on AF recurrence following
catheter ablation.
Methods
Retrospective study of patients with AF undergoing cardiac computed tomography (CCT)
before ablation (2017–2019). Patients with coronary artery disease (CAD), significant
valvular heart disease and previous catheter ablation were excluded. A cut-off of
CACS ≥ 100 was used according to literature.
Results
A total of 311 patients were included (median age 57 [48, 64] years, 65% men and 21%
with persistent AF). More than half of the patients had a CACS > 0 (52%) and 18% a
CACS ≥ 100. Patients with CACS ≥ 100 were older (64 [59, 69] vs 55 [46, 63] years,
p < 0.001), had more frequently hypertension (68% vs 42%, p < 0.001) and diabetes
mellitus (21% vs 10%, p = 0.020). During a median follow-up of 34 months (12–57
months), 98 patients (32%) had AF recurrence. CACS ≥ 100 was associated with increased
risk of AF recurrence (unadjusted Cox regression: hazard ratio [HR] 2.0; 95% confidence
interval [CI], 1.3–3.1, p = 0.002). After covariate adjustment, CACS ≥ 100 and persistent
AF remained independent predictors of AF recurrence (HR, 1.7; 95% CI, 1.0–2.8, p = 0.039
and HR, 2.0; 95% CI, 1.3–3.2, p = 0.004, respectively).
Conclusion
An opportunistic evaluation of CACS could be an important tool to improve clinical
care considering that CACS ≥ 100 was independently associated with a 69% increase
in the risk of AF recurrence after first catheter ablation.
Keywords
Abbreviations:
AF (Atrial fibrillation), CACS (Coronary artery calcium score), CAD (Coronary artery disease), CCT (Cardiac computed tomography), CI (Confidence interval), CV (Cardiovascular), ESC (European Society of Cardiology), HR (Hazard ratio), IQR (Interquartile range), LA (Left atrium)To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: November 10, 2022
Accepted:
October 29,
2022
Received in revised form:
October 4,
2022
Received:
June 25,
2022
Footnotes
☆No previous presentation of the whole or part of the work was presented elsewhere.
Identification
Copyright
© 2022 Society of Cardiovascular Computed Tomography. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
