Key result
Catheter ablation for atrial fibrillation reduced all-cause hospitalizations from 0.8 per patient per year pre-ablation to 0.4 at 24 months post-ablation (P<0.05).
Why the study?
Does catheter ablation reduce health care resource utilization in patients with atrial fibrillation?
Cohort (n=1,556)
Does catheter ablation reduce health care resource utilization in patients with atrial fibrillation?
Absolute Event Rate: 0.6% vs 0.8%
p-value: p=<0.05
Catheter ablation for atrial fibrillation is associated with a significant and sustained reduction in healthcare resource utilization, including hospitalizations and emergency room visits, up to 24 months post-procedure.
May support lower hospitalizations post-AF ablation; hypothesis-generating and requires RCTs before practice change.
BACKGROUND: Catheter ablation (CA) is superior to antiarrhythmic therapy at reducing recurrence of atrial fibrillation (AF); however, there are limited data regarding whether this decrease translates into a reduction in health care resource utilization. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the impact of AF ablation on long-term health care resource utilization. METHODS: A population-based cohort was constructed to include patients who underwent CA for AF in Quebec, Canada, between April 2005 and March 2011. Resource utilization was evaluated 24 months pre- and postindex CA procedure. RESULTS: In a cohort of 1,556 patients, resource utilization increased progressively over the 24-month period leading to index CA (P for trend <0.05 for hospitalizations, ER visits, outpatient visits, cardioversions, and echocardiograms). After index CA, all-cause hospitalizations, hospitalizations for AF, ER visits, cardioversions, and echocardiograms were reduced 12 months post-CA compared to 12 months prior (all-cause hospitalizations 0.8-0.6 per patient per year; hospitalizations for AF 0.4-0.3; ER visits 2.9-1.8; cardioversions 0.5-0.2; echocardiograms 0.8-0.5; P < 0.05 for all trends). Resource utilization continued to decline at 24 months post-CA (vs. 12 months prior) for all-cause hospitalizations (0.4), cardioversions (0.1), and echocardiograms (0.3) (per patient year; P < 0.05 for all trends). CONCLUSION: In conclusion, the pattern of increasing health care resource utilization preceding CA for AF reverses after CA to lower than preablation levels up to 24 months post-CA.
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Samuel et al. (2017) conducted a cohort in Atrial fibrillation (n=1,556). Catheter ablation vs. Pre-ablation period (up to 24 months prior) was evaluated on All-cause hospitalizations (per patient per year at 12 months) (p=<0.05). Catheter ablation for atrial fibrillation reduced all-cause hospitalizations from 0.8 per patient per year pre-ablation to 0.4 at 24 months post-ablation (P<0.05).
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