Atrial fibrillation burden and the risk of all-cause mortality : A systematic review

Abstract: Background: Globally, atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common cardiac arrhythmia. AF related complications include stroke, heart failure and death. AF burden, preferably defined as total time an individual is in AF during a specified monitoring period, is a term being mentioned more frequently. How AF burden correlates with clinical outcomes is still not well established. Aim: The aim of this systematic literature review is to investigate the relationship between AF burden and all-cause mortality. Method: This is a systematic literature study. The PICO format was used to create inclusion criteria which the search words were based on. Searches were done in PubMed and Cochrane by combining free text words and MeSH terms and were carried out on 16 November 2023. Title and abstracts were screened and full-text articles were assessed for eligibility by using inclusion and exclusion criteria. Study quality was estimated by using the MINORS score. Results: All 6 included articles reported a statistically significant relationship between AF burden and all-cause mortality. Of these, one article found only a significant association in patients receiving catheter ablation and not in patients receiving medical therapy. Conclusion: There is a significant association between AF burden and all-cause mortality. Further studies are needed establish the relationship and to determine if and how it possibly could be applied in clinical work.