Five-Year Change in the Renal Function After Catheter Ablation of Atrial Fibrillation

Background Although it has been reported that renal function can improve after catheter ablation of atrial fibrillation (AF), long-term changes in renal function and its relationship to rhythm outcomes have not yet been evaluated. We explored the 5-year change in estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) in AF patients depending on medical therapy and catheter ablation. Methods and Results Among 1963 patients who underwent AF catheter ablation and 14 056 with AF under medical therapy in the National Health Insurance Service database, we compared 571 with AF catheter ablation (59±10 years old, 72.3% male, and 66.5% paroxysmal AF) and 1713 with medical therapy after 1:3 propensity-score matching. All participants had 5 years of serial eGFR data (Chronic Kidney Disease-Epidemiology Collaboration [CKD-EPI] method). Catheter ablation improved eGFR (P