Limitations
There are several limitations to the present study. First, this was a
retrospective single-center study with a small study population.
Although, there were several clinical backgrounds that influenced the
renal function, we consider that the propensity score matching reduced
the biases of the variables related to the eGFR. A further large-scale
prospective study will be needed to clarify these issues. Second, the
freedom from AF more than 3 months after the ablation might have been
possibly overestimated, as asymptomatic episodes of recurrence of AF
could not have been evaluated by regular twelve lead electrocardiograms
and 24-hour Holter monitoring.