• Isabelle C Van Gelder, Vincent E Hagens, Hans A Bosker, J Herre Kingma, Otto Kamp, Tsjerk Kingma, Salah A Said, Julius I Darmanata, Alphons J M Timmermans, Jan G P Tijssen, Harry J G M Crijns, and Rate Control versus Electrical Cardioversion for Persistent Atrial Fibrillation Study Group.
• Department of Cardiology, Thoraxcenter, University Hospital, Groningen, The Netherlands. i.c.van.gelder@thorax.azg.nl.
• N. Engl. J. Med. 2002 Dec 5; 347 (23): 183418401834-40.

BackgroundMaintenance of sinus rhythm is the main therapeutic goal in patients with atrial fibrillation. However, recurrences of atrial fibrillation and side effects of antiarrhythmic drugs offset the benefits of sinus rhythm. We hypothesized that ventricular rate control is not inferior to the maintenance of sinus rhythm for the treatment of atrial fibrillation.MethodsWe randomly assigned 522 patients who had persistent atrial fibrillation after a previous electrical cardioversion to receive treatment aimed at rate control or rhythm control. Patients in the rate-control group received oral anticoagulant drugs and rate-slowing medication. Patients in the rhythm-control group underwent serial cardioversions and received antiarrhythmic drugs and oral anticoagulant drugs. The end point was a composite of death from cardiovascular causes, heart failure, thromboembolic complications, bleeding, implantation of a pacemaker, and severe adverse effects of drugs.ResultsAfter a mean (+/-SD) of 2.3+/-0.6 years, 39 percent of the 266 patients in the rhythm-control group had sinus rhythm, as compared with 10 percent of the 256 patients in the rate-control group. The primary end point occurred in 44 patients (17.2 percent) in the rate-control group and in 60 (22.6 percent) in the rhythm-control group. The 90 percent (two-sided) upper boundary of the absolute difference in the primary end point was 0.4 percent (the prespecified criterion for noninferiority was 10 percent or less). The distribution of the various components of the primary end point was similar in the rate-control and rhythm-control groups.ConclusionsRate control is not inferior to rhythm control for the prevention of death and morbidity from cardiovascular causes and may be appropriate therapy in patients with a recurrence of persistent atrial fibrillation after electrical cardioversion.Copyright 2002 Massachusetts Medical Society

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