Atrial fibrillation in heart failure: The sword of Damocles revisited

Table 1 Prognostic impact of atrial fibrillation in heart failure

Ref.	Setting	n	LVEF	Mean follow up	AF	Deaths n (%)		P-value
				(yr)		SR	AF
Randomised trials
Dries et al[25]	SOLVD	6517	< 35%	2.8	6%	1395 (23)	149 (34)	< 0.0001
Olsson et al[26]	CHARM	7601	All LVEF included	3.1	15%	1466 (23)	365 (32)	< 0.001
Swedberg et al[38]	COMET	3029	< 35%	4.8	20%	874 (36)	258 (43)	< 0.0005
Carson et al[109]	V-HEFT I&II	1427	< 45%	2.5	19%	480 (39)	75 (36)	NS
Mathew et al[110]	DIG	7788	All LVEF included	3.1	11%	2231 (32)	375 (43)	< 0.0001
Crijns et al[111]	PRIME II	409	< 35%	3.4	21%	153 (47)	50 (60)	< 0.05
Pederson et al[112]	DIAMOND	3587	< 35%	N/A	24%	1951 (73)	634 (77)	< 0.001
Observational studies
Rivero-Ayerza et al[5]	EuroHeart Failure Survey	10701	All LVEF included	N/A	43%	419 (7)	372 (8)	< 0.05
Ahmed et al[28]	Medicare AL	944	All LVEF included	4.0 yr	27%	439 (62)	166 (71)	< 0.01
Mahoney et al[37]	Heart Transplantation	234	< 45%	1.1 yr	27%	26 (15)	14 (22)	NS
Middlekauff et al[113]	Heart Transplantation	390	< 35%	265 d	19%	123 (29)	36 (48)	< 0.005
Stevenson et al[114]	Heart Transplantation	750	< 40%	2.0 yr	22%	336 (45)	104 (61)	< 0.01
Wojtkowska et al[115]	Bilaystok, Poland	120	< 30%	3.0 yr	50%	26 (43)	33 (55)	NS
Corell et al[116]	Danish HF clinic Network	1019	< 45%	1.9 yr	26%	180 (24)	89 (33)	< 0.05
Pai et al[117]	Loma Linda VA	8931	All LVEF included	2.5 yr	18%	2164 (28)	529 (44)	< 0.0001
Rusinaru et al[118]	Somme, France	368	> 50%	N/A	36%	125 (53)	84 (64)	< 0.05
Hamaguchi et al[119]	Japanese Registry data	2659	All LVEF included	2.4 yr	35%	N/A	N/A	NS
Shotan et al[120]	National HF Survey, Israel	4102	All LVEF included	4	33%	1480 (54.3)	882 (64.9)	0.000

SR: Sinus rhythm; AF: Atrial fibrillation; LVEF: Left ventricular ejection fraction; NS: Not significant; N/A: Not applicable; SOLVD: Studies of left ventricular dysfunction; CHARM: Candesartan in heart failure assessment of reduction in mortality and morbidity; COMET: Carvedilol or metoprolol European trial; DIG: Digitalis investigation group; DIAMOND: Danish investigations of arrhythmia and mortality on dofetilide.