Atrial fibrilation and obesity

Catheter Ablation for Atrial Fibrillation in Patients With Obesity
Yong-Mei Cha MD*, Paul A. Friedman MD, Samuel J. Asirvatham MD, Win-Kuang Shen MD, Thomas M. Munger MD, Robert F. Rea MD, Peter A. Brady MD, Arshad Jahangir MD, Kristi H. Monahan RN, David O. Hodge MS, Ryan A. Meverden BS, Bernard J. Gersh MB, ChB, Stephen C. Hammill MD, and Douglas L. Packer MD
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: ycha@mayo.edu.

Background—Obesity is a risk factor for atrial fibrillation and other cardiovascular conditions. Our objective was to determine whether catheter-based ablation effectively treated atrial fibrillation in obese patients.

Methods and Results—Five hundred twenty-three consecutive patients with symptomatic, medication-refractory atrial fibrillation underwent catheter ablation. Patients were grouped by body mass index (lean, <25 12="" 201="" 25="" 29.9="" 30="" 36-item="" 3="" 59="" 66="" 70="" 72="" 75="" 77="" 79="" 84="" a="" ablation.="" ablation="" after="" agents="" all="" and="" antiarrhythmic="" arrhythmia="" assessed="" at="" atrial="" baseline.="" baseline="" before="" body="" br="" curative="" domain="" edical="" eliminated="" every="" fibrillation="" for="" free="" from="" functional="" general="" groups="" health="" higher="" hundred="" improved="" in="" included.="" increased="" index="" kg="" lean="" life="" lower="" m2="" mass="" mean="" measured="" medication="" mental="" months="" obese.="" obese="" of="" outcome="" outcomes="" overweight="" patients="" physical="" procedure.="" quality="" receiving="" respectively="" score="" scores="" sf-36="" short-form="" study="" survey="" test="" the="" those="" to="" total="" trend="" twelve="" twenty-eight="" two="" use="" was="" were="" when="" with="" without="">
Conclusions—Catheter ablation of atrial fibrillation was effective in obese patients. Coexistence of atrial fibrillation and obesity indicated lower SF-36 scores, but the improvement in quality of life was consistent across all body mass index categories.