Primary and secondary endpoints
The primary endpoint was defined as a composite of all-cause death, thromboembolic (TE) events and HF hospitalization. The secondary endpoint was defined as the NYHA class, NT-ProBNP level, and left atrial diameter (LAD), left ventricular end-diastolic diameter (LVEDD), left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) at the end of follow-up. AF recurrence was defined as symptomatic and/or asymptomatic episodes of AF/AFL/AT lasting > 30 seconds identified on the 12-lead surface electrocardiogram or Holter monitoring after the 3-month of blanking period. All the follow-up data were retrieved from the medical database of our institution. The start of the follow-up period was defined as the day of the last ablation procedure for catheter ablation group, or the day of discharge of the index hospitalization for medical treatment group.