ArticleEuropace : European pacing, arrhythmias, and cardiac electrophysiology : journal of the working groups on cardiac pacing, arrhythmias, and cardiac cellular electrophysiology of the European Society of Cardiology2023
Implementation of a screening and management pathway for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in patients with atrial fibrillation.
Article in 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, 2023. 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.
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Who cites it
11 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 12 citations in OpenAlex.
- Prevalence of COPD in other long-term conditions: a systematic meta review.BMC pulmonary medicine · 2026Pooled it
- Recent highlights from theInternational journal of cardiology. Heart & vasculature · 2026Article
- Integrated Cardiopulmonary Profile as an Additive Signal in Patients Evaluated for Suspected Newly Detected Atrial Fibrillation.Medical sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Observational
- Peri-procedural respiratory complications in patients undergoing pulmonary vein isolation under procedural sedation and analgesia: Incidence and predictive factors.International journal of cardiology. Heart & vasculature · 2025Article
- Article
- The Impact of Beta-Blockers and Renin-Angiotensin-Aldosterone System Inhibitors on the Prognosis of Atrial Fibrillation Patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease: A Nation-Wide Registry Study.International journal of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease · 2025Observational
- Impact of lifestyle risk factors on atrial fibrillation: Mechanisms and prevention approaches - A narrative review.International journal of cardiology. Cardiovascular risk and prevention · 2024Review
- Recent highlights from theInternational journal of cardiology. Heart & vasculature · 2024Article
- Longer and better lives for patients with atrial fibrillation: the 9th 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 · 2024Article
- Impact of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in patients with atrial fibrillation: an analysis from the GLORIA-AF registry.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
- Repurposing catheter ablation work-up to detect expiratory airflow limitation in patients with atrial fibrillation.International journal of cardiology. Heart & vasculature · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
15 authors at 6 institutions in 5 countries.
Funding
Abstract
aimsChronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) negatively impacts the efficacy of heart rhythm control treatments in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF). Although COPD is recognized as a risk factor for AF, practical guidance about how and when to screen for COPD is not available. Herein, we describe the implementation of an integrated screening and management pathway for COPD into the existing pre-ablation work-up in an AF outpatient clinic infrastructure. METHODS AND
resultsConsecutive unselected patients accepted for AF catheter ablation in the Maastricht University Medical Center+ were prospectively screened for airflow limitation using handheld (micro)spirometry at the pre-ablation outpatient clinic supervised by an AF nurse. Patients with results suggestive of airflow limitation were offered referral to the pulmonologist. Handheld (micro)spirometry was performed in 232 AF patients, which provided interpretable results in 206 (88.8%) patients. Airflow limitation was observed in 47 patients (20.3%). Out of these 47 patients, 29 (62%) opted for referral to the pulmonologist. The primary reason for non-referral was low perceived symptom burden. Using this screening strategy 17 (out of 232; 7.3%) ultimately received a diagnosis of chronic respiratory disease, either COPD or asthma.
conclusionA COPD care pathway can successfully be embedded in an existing AF outpatient clinic infrastructure, using (micro)spirometry and remote analysis of results. Although one out of five patients had results suggestive of an underlying chronic respiratory disease, only 62% of these patients opted for a referral. Pre-selection of patients as well as patient education might increase the diagnostic yield and requires further research.
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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.