Trial reportEuropace : European pacing, arrhythmias, and cardiac electrophysiology : journal of the working groups on cardiac pacing, arrhythmias, and cardiac cellular electrophysiology of the European Society of Cardiology2025
Dronedarone provides effective early rhythm control: post-hoc analysis of the ATHENA trial using EAST-AFNET 4 criteria.
Trial report 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, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to 2 registered trials, which are not on this map. Cited by 8 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
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.
The trial behind it
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.
A Placebo-controlled,Double-blind,Parallel Arm Trial to Assess the Efficacy of Dronedarone 400mg Bid for the Prevention of Cardiovascular Hospitalization or Death From Any Cause in Patients With Atrial Fibrillation/Atrial Flutter (AF/AFL)
Early Therapy of Atrial Fibrillation for Stroke Prevention Trial (EAST).
Who cites it
8 citing papers in PubMed.
- Interactions of blood biomolecules with early rhythm control in atrial fibrillation patients: exploratory analysis of the EAST-AFNET 4 biomolecule 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 · 2026Trial
- Comparison of the effectiveness and safety of dronedarone and amiodarone for preventing recurrence after catheter ablation of atrial fibrillation: an open-label randomized controlled trial.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 · 2026Trial
- Effects of Antiarrhythmics on Cardiac Phenotype and Redox Balance in Spontaneously Hypertensive Rats.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Article
- New recommendations for rhythm control-What has changed in the 2023 ACC/AHA/ACCP/HRS and 2024 ESC guidelines for atrial fibrillation, and where does dronedarone fit in?American heart journal plus : cardiology research and practice · 2025Article
- Practical compendium of antiarrhythmic drugs: a clinical consensus statement of the European Heart Rhythm Association of the European Society of Cardiology.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 · 2025Review
- Towards personalized therapy for atrial fibrillation: the rhythmic climbing of dronedarone.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
- The Optimal Management of Patients with Atrial Fibrillation and Acute Heart Failure in the Emergency Department.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2023Review
- The present and future of antiarrhythmic drugs.JRSM cardiovascular diseaseArticle
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
Abstract
aimsThis post-hoc analysis of the ATHENA trial assessed whether dronedarone (400 mg twice daily) improved cardiovascular outcomes compared with placebo in patients with early atrial fibrillation/atrial flutter (AF) and cardiovascular comorbidities, based on EAST-AFNET 4 inclusion criteria and outcomes. METHODS AND
resultsThe co-primary outcomes were (i) a composite of cardiovascular death, stroke, or hospitalisation due to worsening of heart failure (HF) or acute coronary syndrome (ACS) and (ii) nights spent in hospital per year. Sinus rhythm (SR) at 12 months was a secondary outcome. The primary safety outcome was a composite of death, stroke, or pre-specified serious adverse events of special interest (AESIs) related to rhythm control therapy. 1810 patients with early AF were identified. Patients receiving dronedarone had fewer deaths from cardiovascular causes, strokes, or hospitalisations due to worsening of HF or ACS compared with patients receiving placebo [dronedarone (n = 924), 87 patients with ≥1 event; placebo (n = 886), 117 patients with ≥1 event; hazard ratio 0.71; 95% confidence interval 0.54-0.94; P = 0.014]. Number of nights spent in hospital did not differ between treatment groups. More patients receiving dronedarone (69.2%) were in SR at 12 months compared with placebo (60.8%). Primary safety events comprising death, stroke, or pre-specified serious AESIs related to rhythm control therapy were not different (dronedarone vs. placebo: 60 vs. 71 patients with ≥1 event).
conclusionThese data support the use of dronedarone for early rhythm control therapy in selected patients with early AF.
trial registrationATHENA: ClinicalTrials.gov identifier NCT00174785. EAST-AFNET 4: ClinicalTrials.gov identifier NCT01288352.
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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.