ReviewJournal of cardiovascular development and disease2022
Association of Catheter Ablation and Reduced Incidence of Dementia among Patients with Atrial Fibrillation during Long-Term Follow-Up: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Observational Studies.
Review in Journal of cardiovascular development and disease, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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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, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 13 citations in OpenAlex.
- Catheter ablation and cognitive function in atrial fibrillation: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Frontiers in neurology · 2022Pooled it
- Recent-onset atrial fibrillation: challenges and opportunities.European heart journal · 2026Review
- Transforming atrial fibrillation management by targeting comorbidities and reducing atrial fibrillation burden: the 10th AFNET/EHRA consensus conference.Europace : European pacing, arrhythmias, and cardiac electrophysiology : journal of the working groups on cardiac pacing, arrhythmias, and cardiac cellular electrophysiology of the European Society of Cardiology · 2025Article
- [Prevention of cognitive decline in old age : Selected primary preventive approaches].Zeitschrift fur Gerontologie und Geriatrie · 2024Article
- Microembolizations in the arterial cerebral circulation during atrial fibrillation ablation: cryoballoon technique advantages and neurocognitive safety-results of a prospective observational study.Europace : European pacing, arrhythmias, and cardiac electrophysiology : journal of the working groups on cardiac pacing, arrhythmias, and cardiac cellular electrophysiology of the European Society of Cardiology · 2024Observational
- Multidisciplinary Approach in Atrial Fibrillation: As Good as Gold.Journal of clinical medicine · 2024Review
- Atrial fibrillation: comorbidities, lifestyle, and patient factors.The Lancet regional health. Europe · 2024Review
- Ablation of atrial fibrillation and dementia risk reduction during long-term follow-up: a nationwide population-based study.Europace : European pacing, arrhythmias, and cardiac electrophysiology : journal of the working groups on cardiac pacing, arrhythmias, and cardiac cellular electrophysiology of the European Society of Cardiology · 2023Article
- New Perspectives on Risk Stratification and Treatment in Patients with Atrial Fibrillation: An Analysis of Recent Contributions on theJournal of cardiovascular development and disease · 2023Article
- [Atrial fibrillation and cognitive impairment: a narrative review].Revista de neurologia · 2022Review
- Percutaneous Treatment Approaches in Atrial Fibrillation: Current Landscape and Future Perspectives.Biomedicines · 2022Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundAtrial fibrillation (AF) is independently associated with the onset of cognitive decline/dementia. AF catheter ablation (AFCA) is the most effective treatment strategy in terms of sinus rhythm maintenance, but its effects on dementia prevention remain under investigation. The aim of the present study was to perform a systematic review and meta-analysis of the presently available studies exploring the effect of AFCA on dementia occurrence.
methodsPubMed/MEDLINE databases were screened for articles through 14 March 2022 reporting adjusted time-to-event outcome data comparing AFCA and non-AFCA cohorts in terms of de novo dementia occurrence. A random effect meta-analysis was performed to estimate the meta-analytic hazard ratio (HR) of dementia occurrence in AFCA vs. non-AFCA cohorts, as well as the meta-analytic incidence rate of dementia in the non-AFCA cohort. Based on the aforementioned estimates, the number needed to treat (NNT), projected at median follow-up, was derived.
resultsFour observational studies were included in the analysis, encompassing 40,146 patients (11,312 in the AFCA cohort; 28,834 in the non-AFCA cohort). AFCA conferred a significant protection to the development of dementia with an overall HR of 0.52 (95% CI 0.35-0.76). The incidence rate of dementia in the non-AFCA group was 1.12 events per 100 person-year (95% CI 0.47-2.67). The derived NNT projected to the median follow-up (4.5 years) was 41.
conclusionAFCA is associated with a nearly 50% reduction in dementia occurrence during a median 4.5-year follow-up. Future randomized clinical trials are needed to reinforce these findings.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.