Prevalence of atrial arrhythmia in patients with arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract

Abstract Background and objectives Little is known about atrial involvement in patients with arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy (ARVC). Recent studies have suggested that atrial arrhythmia (AA), including atrial fibrillation (AF), atrial flutter (AFL), and atrial tachycardia (AT), was common among these patients although the reported prevalence varied considerably across the studies. Methods We searched for published articles indexed in MEDLINE and EMBASE databases from inception through Sep 22, 2019 to identify cohort studies of patients with ARVC that described the prevalence of atrial arrhythmia among the participants. The pooled prevalence across studies was calculated. Results A total of 16 cohort studies with 1,986 patients with ARVC were included into this meta-analysis. The pooled prevalence of overall AA among patients with ARVC was 17.9% (95% CI, 13.0%–24.0%; I2 88%), the pooled prevalence of AF of 12.9% (95% CI, 9.6%–17.0%; I2 78%), the pooled prevalence of AFL of 5.9% (95% CI, 3.7%–9.2%; I2 70%), and the pooled prevalence of AT of 7.1% (95% CI, 3.7%–13.0%; I2 49%). Conclusions AA is common among patient with ARVC with the pooled prevalence of approximately 18%, which is substantially higher than the reported prevalence of AA in general population. Funding Acknowledgement Type of funding source: None