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.