Methods and results
The Medline and EMBASE databases were searched for published articles up to Octomber 2022. Studies that met our predefined inclusion criteria were included. The primary endpoints were freedom from AF/atrial tachycardia (AT) recurrence, safety ouctcomes including the stroke/transient ischaemic attack (TIA), cardiac tamponade and pericardial effusion. After literature search and detailed assessment, 6 studies (9982 patients) were identified. Our analyses showed that the rate of freedom from AF/AT recurrence was higher in young than old AF patients after ablation [odds ratio (OR): 0.58, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.36–0.92; P -0.02]. Compared to older patients, there were similar rate of adverse outcomes including pericardial effusion /tamponade (OR=0.61, 95%CI 0.29-1.27,P=0.18), hematoma(OR=1.87, 95%CI 0.62,5.63, P=0.27) and stroke/ TIA rate(OR=0.25, 95%CI 0.05,1.41, P=0.12) .