Is the key to prevention of post ablation atrial fibrillation risk factor modification?

Dr. Rajeen Pathar (1) and co researchers from Adelaide Australia seem to think so.

Hypertension,diabetes,obesity, sleep apnea and smoking are recognized risk factors for the development of atrial fibrillation (AF).The authors reasoned that the same risk factors might predispose to  recurrence of AF after a successful atrial fibrillation ablation and that aggressive risk factor reduction just might decrease the recurrence rate. Their published data (1) tends to support that hypothesis.

A excellent discussion of risk factor importance in AF  by Dr. John Mandrola on Medscape can be found here.



1) Pathak,RK Aggressive risk factor reduction study for atrial fibrillation and implications for the outcome of ablation.The Arrest-AF study. JACC2014 Dec 2;64 (2) 2222