Quality of Life Up in Obese A-Fib Patients Post-Ablation

Baseline quality of life, high BMI independently predict better QoL post-catheter ablation

FRIDAY, Dec. 2 (HealthDay News) -- For obese patients with atrial fibrillation (AF), but not for their non-obese counterparts, quality of life (QoL) scores improve significantly following catheter ablation, according to a study published in the December issue of Heart Rhythm.

Sanghamitra Mohanty, M.D., from the Texas Cardiac Arrhythmia Institute in Austin, and colleagues investigated whether baseline BMI influenced QoL improvements in 660 patients with AF. Patients were categorized on the basis of their baseline BMI as normal (BMI, <25 kg/m²) and overweight/obese (BMI, ≥25kg/m²). QoL surveys were conducted using the Medical Outcomes Study Short Form-36 (SF-36), the Beck Depression Inventory, the Hospital Anxiety and Depression (HAD) scale, and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) at baseline and 12-months post-ablation.

The investigators found that the overweight/obese population had a higher baseline prevalence of diabetes, dyslipidemia, hypertension, coronary artery disease, and large left atrium. Compared to the normal BMI group, the overweight/obese group had lower pre-procedural QoL scores on the HAD scale, SF-36, and STAI. At 12-month post-ablation, the normal-BMI group did not show a significant improvement in the QoL scores. However, the overweight/obese group showed significant improvement in the QoL scores on all scales, except for physical functioning and bodily pain categories of the SF-36. The long-term success of ablation did not differ between the normal and high-BMI groups (69 and 63 percent, respectively; log-rank P = 0.109). QoL scores improved significantly for patients with successful versus failed ablation. Baseline QoL score and BMI ≥25 kg/m² independently predicted QoL improvement on multivariate analysis.

"Obese patients with AF tend to have a better post-ablation QoL outcome than do their nonobese counterparts," the authors write.

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