ArticleInternational journal of cardiology. Heart & vasculature2021
Clinical utility of rhythm control by electrical cardioversion to assess the association between self-reported symptoms and rhythm status in patients with persistent atrial fibrillation.
Article in International journal of cardiology. Heart & vasculature, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
11 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Guideline
- 2023 ACC/AHA/ACCP/HRS Guideline for the Diagnosis and Management of Atrial Fibrillation: A Report of the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association Joint Committee on Clinical Practice Guidelines.Journal of the American College of Cardiology · 2024Guideline
- Challenges and Opportunities for Atrial Fibrillation Management.Cardiology discovery · 2025Review
- Investigation of predictive parameters for recurrence in patients undergoing electrical cardioversion for atrial fibrillation.Journal of arrhythmia · 2025Article
- Elective Direct Current Cardioversion of Atrial Fibrillation: Silent Brain Infarction and Health-Related Quality of Life.Cardiology · 2024Article
- Recent highlights on the prevalence and role of sleep disordered breathing in cardiovascular diseases from theInternational journal of cardiology. Heart & vasculature · 2023Article
- Brady- and tachyarrhythmias detected by continuous rhythm monitoring in paroxysmal atrial fibrillation.Heart (British Cardiac Society) · 2023Observational
- Imaging approaches for pulmonary vein isolation in patients after lobectomy or pneumonectomy: a case series.European heart journal. Case reports · 2023Article
- Observational
- Emerging Antiarrhythmic Drugs for Atrial Fibrillation.International journal of molecular sciences · 2022Review
- Defining the benefit: Cardioversion of persistent atrial fibrillation.International journal of cardiology. Heart & vasculature · 2021Article
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Authors and funding
12 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThe best strategy to assess the association between symptoms and rhythm status (symptom-rhythm correlation) in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) remains unclear. We aimed to determine the clinical utility of rhythm control by electrical cardioversion (ECV) to assess symptom-rhythm correlation in patients with persistent AF.
methodsWe used ECV to examine symptom-rhythm correlation in 81 persistent AF patients. According to current clinical practice, the presence of self-reported symptoms before ECV and at the first outpatient clinic follow-up visit (within 1-month) was assessed to determine the prevalence of a symptom-rhythm correlation (defined as self-reported symptoms present during AF and absent in sinus rhythm or absent in AF and yet relief during sinus rhythm). In addition, we evaluated symptom patterns around ECV.
resultsOnly in 18 patients (22%), a symptom-rhythm correlation could be documented. Twenty-eight patients (35%) did not show any symptom-rhythm correlation and 35 patients (43%) had an unevaluable symptom-rhythm correlation as these patients were in symptomatic AF both at baseline and at the first outpatient AF clinic follow-up visit. Importantly, self-reported symptom patterns around ECV were intra-individually variable in 10 patients (12%) without symptom-rhythm correlation (of which 9 patients (11%) had AF recurrence) and in 2 patients (2%) with an unevaluable symptom-rhythm correlation.
conclusionsIn patients with persistent AF, symptom assessment around rhythm control by ECV, once before ECV and once within 1-month follow-up, rarely identifies a symptom-rhythm correlation and often suggests changes in symptom pattern. Better strategies are needed to assess symptom-rhythm correlation in patients with persistent AF.
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