Does early, systematic rhythm control therapy provide clinical benefit in patients with recently diagnosed atrial fibrillation and concomitant cardiovascular conditions, regardless of symptoms?
Early, systematic rhythm control provides similar clinical benefits in both asymptomatic and symptomatic patients with recently diagnosed atrial fibrillation.
The clinical benefit of early, systematic rhythm control was not different between asymptomatic and symptomatic patients in EAST-AFNET 4. These results call for a shared decision discussing the benefits of rhythm control therapy in all patients with recently diagnosed AF and concomitant cardiovascular conditions (EAST-AFNET 4; ISRCTN04708680; NCT01288352; EudraCT2010-021258-20).
Willems et al. (2021) studied this question.