Abstract
Introduction: Atrial fibrillation is the most common cardiac arrhythmia and is an independent risk factor for mortality across a wide age range in both men and women. Management methods of atrial fibrillation have been thoroughly investigated through numerous trials exploring various treatment modalities. There has been a preference for rate control as the initial approach, but recent studies, particularly the EAST-AFNET 4 trial, point out several clinical settings in which rhythm control is preferable. To evaluate new paradigms in the acute management of atrial fibrillation, our meta-analysis provides a current, curated examination of the major landmark trials in the management of atrial fibrillation along with the most recent randomized controlled trials that have been published since 2022. Methods: A literature search was performed on May 2022 using PubMed and OVID Medline databases for study identification. Combinations of the search terms atrial fibrillation, rate control, adrenergic beta antagonists, rhythm control, anti-arrhythmia drugs, and catheter ablation were combined to conduct the literature search. Boolean operators AND and OR were used to combine terms. Results: There were no significant differences in the effects of rate and rhythm control on any outcome: all-cause mortality (RR: 0.996; CI: 0.674-1.376), cardiovascular mortality (RR: 0.957; CI: 0.601-1.413), arrhythmic/sudden death mortality (RR: 0.954; CI: 0.445-1.816), stroke/transient ischemic attack (RR: 1.011; CI: 0.535-1.78), and systemic embolism (RR: 1.275; CI: 0.541-2.625). Conclusions: Updated data pooled from randomized control trials in patients with atrial fibrillation suggests that rhythm and rate control strategies have no statistically significant differences on major clinical outcomes. Additional studies will be required to investigate factors favorable for rhythm-control strategies and to determine contemporary best clinical practices.
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