WHY
early rhythm control works?
Slow the progression of atrial cardiomyopathy.
median time since diagnosis = 36days.
lower stroke rate in rhythm control group but no differences in CV hospitalizations.
Better & Safer Rhythm Control
no differences in non-CV deaths & Torsades.
very low complication rates from ablation.
Rhythm control group received more attention.
patients were not blinded to Tx.
rhythm control groups needed to send ECG via Vitaphone 2/wk; would trigger a visit if AF.
Non-uniform dropout
though some statistical maneuvers were used to fix the dropout, the missing data of nearly 10% can potentially invalidate the analysis.
9% dropout in early rhythm control group and 6.6% in the control.