Abstract Body (Do not enter title and authors here): Background:
Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most frequent arrhythmia, and catheter ablation (CA) has emerged as a preferred treatment option for selected patients. There is limited data on the peri-procedural safety of CA in older patients when compared with younger patients.
Hypothesis: We hypothesize that in the 2016-2020 national inpatient sample
Aim: We aim to assess the peri-procedural safety of CA for AF in older patients compared with young. Evaluating inpatient mortality and procedure complications
Methods:
We performed a 1:1 propensity score match retrospective study utilizing the 2016-2020 National Inpatientient Sample. Patients who underwent CA for AF were identified and categorized into two cohorts: young (ages 18-50 years) and older (age ≥ 80). The primary outcome was in-hospital mortality. Secondary outcomes included total procedural complications, length of stay (LOS), and total cost of hospitalization.
Results:
Twenty-two thousand seven hundred fifty-five encounters underwent AF-CA – 6,540 were young hospitalizations, and 16,215 were in the older cohort. The mean age for the young cohort was 43±6.2 years and 83±2.9 years for the older cohort. After propensity match in a 1:1 fashion, each cohort included 5270 hospitalizations. There was no significant difference in in-hospital mortality between the two groups aOR=2.18; 95% CI 0.83-5.78; p=0.12, total complications aOR 1.14; 95% CI 0.91-1.42; p= 0.24, or total cost $141,000, 95% CI $129,000-$154,000 vs. $137,000, 95% CI $117,000-$157,000, p=0.70 in the young AF cohort compared to the older CA group, respectively. However, there was a significant difference in LOS, with the older group experiencing a longer average LOS (5.4 days with 95% CI 4.4-6.3 vs. 4.2 days with 95% CI 3.6-4.9, p=0.04).
Conclusion:
In the 2016-2020 NatioInpatientient Sample, patients who underwent AF-CA aged ≥80 had comparable in-hospital mortality and post-procedure complications when compared to younger patients. These results contribute to the growing body of evidence supporting the safety of CA in elderly patients.