Atrial Fibrillation and Outcomes After Transcatheter or Surgical Aortic Valve Replacement (from the PARTNER 3 Trial)

The prognostic impact of preexisting atrial fibrillation or flutter (AF) in low-risk patients with severe aortic stenosis treated with transcatheter (TAVR) or surgical aortic valve replacement (SAVR) remains unknown. In this sub-analysis of the PARTNER 3 trial of patients with severe aortic stenosis at low surgical risk randomized 1:1 to TAVR versus SAVR, clinical outcomes were analyzed at 2 years according to AF status. Among 948 patients included in the analysis (452 [47.7%] in the SAVR vs 496 [52.3%] in the TAVR arm), 168 (17.6%) patients had AF [88/452 (19.5%) and 80/496 (16.1%) treated with SAVR and TAVR, respectively]. At 2 years, patients with AF had higher unadjusted rates of the composite outcome of death, stroke or rehospitalization (21.2% vs 12.9%, p = 0.007) and rehospitalization alone (15.3% vs 9.4%, p = 0.03) but not all cause death (3.8% vs 2.6%, p = 0.45) or stroke (4.8% vs 2.6%, p = 0.12). In adjusted analyses, patients with AF had a higher risk for the composite outcome of death, stroke or rehospitalization (hazard ratio [HR] 1.80, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.20–2.71, p = 0.0046) and rehospitalization alone (HR 1.8, 95% CI 0.12–2.9, p = 0.015), but not death or stroke. There was no interaction between treatment modality and AF on the composite outcome (Pinter = 0.83). In conclusion, preexisting AF in patients with severe AS at low surgical risk was associated with increased risk of the composite outcome of death, stroke or rehospitalization at 2 years, irrespective of treatment modality.