Introduction
Atrial fibrillation (AF) is one of the most common arrhythmias in
adults.1 As a degenerative disease, AF is expected to
be a growing health burden with the changing demographics and increased
life expectancy across the globe.2-4 Due to the
irregular ventricular rate and cardiac thrombus, in addition to
increasing risk of stroke, AF has a profound and comprehensive influence
on multiple organs, such as leading to decrements in cardiac function,
cognitive function and renal function.5-8 Moreover,
symptomatic AF reduces patient quality of life.
Due to the limited effectiveness of antiarrhythmic drugs, catheter
ablation (CA) has been considered to be a promising solution to restore
sinus rhythm, reduce the AF burden and even extend
survival.9-17 Successful sinus rhythm restoration
through CA has been known to be associated with reduced heart failure
death and improved cognitive function, quality of life and renal
function.12,18-20 Takahashi et al. reported
improvements in renal function with successful CA after a more than
1-year follow-up.19 Wang et al. reported
improvements in renal function after repeated CA in patients with
long-standing AF.21 Park et al. reported better
renal function in patients who maintained sinus rhythm after more than 5
years of follow-up.22 A number of predictors for
worsening renal function have been identified, including the
CHA2DS2-VASc score, pre-existing
diabetes mellitus and AF recurrence. However, few studies have focused
on changes in renal function in AF patients with arrhythmia recurrence.
The objective of this study was to investigate the changes in the
estimated glomerular filtration (eGFR) in nonvalvular atrial
fibrillation (NVAF) patients with recurrence after radiofrequency
catheter ablation (RFCA).