Rhythm control better prevents stroke and mortality than rate control strategies in patients with atrial fibrillation - A nationwide cohort study.

Background: Atrial fibrillation (AF) increases the risk of stroke and mortality. However, rhythm control strategy did not reduce cardiovascular risks in short-term studies. We hypothesize that rhythm control better prevents stroke and mortality than rate control in AF patients over a long-term period.

Methods: AF patients aged ≥18 years were identified from Taiwan National Insurance Database. Patients using anti-arrhythmia drugs to control rhythm at a >30 defined daily dose (DDD) were defined as the rhythm control group. Patients who used rate control medications for >30 DDDs constituted the rate control group. Multivariate Cox hazards regression model was used to evaluate the hazard ratio (HR) for major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE), including ischemic/hemorrhagic stroke and mortality.

Results: A total of 11,968 AF patients were enrolled, and 2850 of them (654 in rhythm control group; 2196 in rate control group) were analyzed. During a 6.3 ± 3.7 year's follow-up, a total of 1101 MACE occurred. Compared to rate control group, rhythm control group displayed a lower rate of ischemic stroke (adjusted HR: 0.65, p = 0.002) and mortality (adjusted HR: 0.81, p = 0.009). The rhythm control group showed a lower incidence of MACE than that of the rate control group (adjusted HR: 0.82, p = 0.009). The reduction of stroke (p = 0.004), mortality (p = 0.006), and MACE (p = 0.007) risk was observed particularly in rhythm control patients with a CHA2DS2-VASc score of ≥3.

Conclusions: In patients with AF, rhythm control better prevents MACE risk than rate control over a long-term period, particularly in those at high risk (CHA2DS2-VASc score ≥3) for stroke.